Living Weapon
by Madness-Incarnate
Summary: A mistake had been made and a solution was required. Too bad nobody asked Finn Hudson his opinion in these matters. Ch. 5 re-edited. Details in A/N2 at the beginning of the chapter.
1. The Prologue

Disclaimer: I own nothing of either Buffy or Glee. I'm not doing this for monetary gain or anything like and I'm just too poor to be sued.

A/N1: General Spoilers for both series apply. This is set post-series for Buffy and mid-season two (just before the Sue Sylvester Shuffle) for Glee.

A/N2: All forms of feedback are more than welcomed, even flames.

* * *

Somewhere Deep in the Heart of Africa

The three of them stood there together, staring as one into the mouth of the cave they were facing. Buffy, Willow, and Xander were giving themselves a minute before entering this most ancient of places.

"It doesn't _look _very temple-y," remarked Buffy.

"Yeah, a little more on the cave-ish side of things." Xander shifted his gear around a little, going over it one last time to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything.

"Well, all my research and all the folk tales and all the legends point to this one place as the entrance to the temple. I'm sure what we're looking for is in here," said Willow.

"I don't like caves," said Buffy. "Bad things tend to happen in caves."

"It doesn't look entirely bad as far as caves go," offered Xander. "I mean, it's not like it's shaped like a human skull or anything."

"That _is _true," conceded the slayer.

They stood there in silence for a beat.

"Well, are we gonna go?" asked Willow.

Buffy snapped free of her reverie and nodded here head. "Yeah, let's get this done."

She started moving forward, the other two following right behind.

Entering the cave, the three of them turned on the head lamps they were wearing and began their journey inward. The interior of the cave system was damp and smelled slightly fetid and musty. Thick tangles of cobwebs seemed to cover almost everything here, large dark things crawling around through some of the fresher-looking webs. Naturally, Willow stayed as close to her companions as possible.

The network of tunnels they were navigating took them downward, further into the Earth. Willow was guiding them by means of an old map they had found that showed the way through. They walked for what felt like a couple of hours before they found any indication that they were indeed on the right path. The passageway they were in ended quite abruptly after rounding a slight bend.

It opened up into what appeared to be a massive cavern, the dimensions of which were beyond even the reach of their lights. Great stalactites and stalagmites reached for the floor or the ceiling respectively. They were utterly massive and kind of spectacular to behold. This place was at least a few miles wide, although it was impossible to know for certain seeing as the other end was invisible from here in the dark.

The cavern's floor was broken and uneven, with jagged peaks and deep narrow valleys made from massive shattered rocks and stones. In silent awe, the trio slowly stepped out from their place in the tunnel entrance and found themselves on the remains of a flat stone platform. There was one remaining corner with it's original ninety-degree angle intact to tell them this was man made. Stepping closer to the far edge of the platform confirmed that by showing them the long narrow steps down into the cavern proper. The flight of stairs appeared long and steep from this angle, treacherous to descend if one was careless.

Once more, Buffy led the way, gingerly making her way down step by awkward step. Her shorter stature was definitely a hindrance here. It seemed to take almost as long to descend the stairs as it did the tunnel. This place was just _huge! _And it all seemed to only get even bigger the further down they went. The ceiling was only visible in some locations where it was low enough to sort of make out.

The stairs they were taking stopped midway down, broken up by a long strip of landing that appeared to extend out from the ground like a bridge before it continued down, curving slowly to the left. The stairs remained suspended in the air like that, being held up by support pillars, all the way down it seemed.

With Buffy still leading the way, they started down this next flight. It was easier going then that first descent, the steeps being only half as tall and at least three times as wide. They made much quicker progress than they were before. In all, it wasn't much longer before this next flight came to a stop at a wide landing.

Set before the trio at the base of these stairs, they could make out a walkway or maybe a bridge stretching it's way into the depths of the massive cavern. It was difficult to tell in this murk, but it appeared to just simply stretch on and on for miles.

Xander silently took the lead and stepped down off the stairs and continued forward. Buffy, giving no indication of her opinion of his assumption of the lead position, followed along a step behind. It was Willow who gave serious pause here, her eyes carefully scanning what they could of their surroundings.

She brought a hand up to her mouth and cupped it, whispering an inaudible litany of incantations from a long dead language. Willow extended her hand out, the center of her palm glowing a brilliant gold hue. Craning her neck forward, she pursed her lips and softly blew air across the surface of her upturned palm. As if she were blowing bubbles, orbs of gold light flew out from her hand and spread out quickly in the air. These orbs multiplied and multiplied, lighting the way as they went. In mere seconds, these orbs of light had spread out to the furthest regions of this underground sanctuary.

The trio could now see that several of the stalagmites were in fact whole and complete pillars of rock that no doubt helped keep the roof from collapsing in on them. There was a strange sort of beauty here; this place was majestic and grandiose. It was a perfect place to hide the last secret of the Shadowmen, to house the temple devoted to their simple brilliance and foresight. This was where the answer to their problems would be found, where the second slayer line was kept inactive, just waiting for a time when it would be necessary to activate it. As it happened to be, the time was right now.

With Xander now leading the way down the underground path, they continued on for the temple proper.


	2. The Duffle Bag

A/N1: Just to make sure everyone is certain, this story will not focus on relationships so much. Canon couples only, but as I said with no focus on them.

A/N2: All forms of feedback are more than welcome, even flames.

* * *

Finn Hudson awoke with a sharp grasp and a scream that died strangled and silent in his throat. He was drenched in sweat and out of breath, his heart racing in his chest. Swinging his legs over the side of his bed, he sat up and took a look at the time. It was four fifty in the morning, too early to get up and too late to go back to sleep. Great.

He rubbed his face with a tired hand and thought about the dream that he had just woken from. Dream didn't really describe it though, nightmare was far more accurate and it wasn't even the first time. This was the third night in a row that he had this nightmare.

It was never him, always a girl, a bunch of different girls. And they all fought. And they all died He saw things in the shadows, things that terrified him. Many were images from deep in the past and others that could've happened that very night for all he knew. And every single one was the same. A girl, all alone and on the hunt; she finds what she's looking for . . . or it finds her. No matter what, Finn Hudson watches them fight, and they all fight like powerful warriors, they really do and each one just gives it her all. But every single time one of these girls, the oldest of which never seems to be much if any older than himself, is killed violently. Some deaths are more brutal than others. Some are quick and others slower, more horrifying. But all of them are witnessed by Finn.

Shaking his head in an attempt to shake free the memories still lingering, Finn sighed and pushed himself up out of bed and stumbled off to the bathroom to take a leak. When he was finished there, he padded silently down the hall, being extra careful not to wake anyone up. He crept down the stairs, somehow finding all the sweet spots that didn't creak.

Heading into the kitchen, silently triumphant at not waking anybody (. . . or at least he didn't _think _he did), Finn went straight for the fridge. He pulled out a carton of orange juice and a gallon of milk from within, setting both items on the counter. Then he poked his head inside again and pulled out a carton of eggs, a pack of lean ham, and a pack of bacon, placing them next to the milk and juice. Not finished, he reached back in the fridge once more and pulled out a wheel of unopened gouda, something Kurt insisted on having in the fridge at all times, and set it next to everything else.

Finn proceeded to fry up the entire package of bacon, made enough scrambled eggs with cheese to feed a small army, cooked Burt's piece of lean ham, dumped a package of bagels on a large plate to be set on the table, set out Burt's healthy bread, grabbed some cream cheese and jam from the fridge, set out a stack of plates and glasses, cut up a bunch of different fruits and tossed them in a large serving bowl, and made a pot of coffee (using the fancy stuff Kurt always bought). Ah, breakfast.

He was finishing up cooking when Burt and his mom wandered in, yawning their 'goodmornings' at him. Kurt wouldn't be home until this afternoon when he came back for the weekend.

Burt was reaching for the bacon when Finn said, "uh uh, you can't have that, Kurt's orders. No bacon or eggs. Ham, dry toast, and fruit only. Oh, and no coffee either."

His stepfather grumbled something under his breath, but backed off and settled for the healthier food instead. Satisfied, Finn piled his own plate high with bacon and eggs and a variety of fruit, with a toasted bagel with cream cheese on the side. He had a cup of coffee, a glass of orange juice, and a glass of milk to wash it all down.

"You only make breakfast like this when you've had a hard time sleeping," observed his mom as she sat down. "And I know you don't ever get up this early if you can help it. Are you okay?"

Choosing not to look at her, Finn nodded and said, "I'm fine. I just have a big day today is all."

He wasn't even looking at her and he knew she didn't really buy it, but she remained silent anyway. Finn gratefully kept his mouth shut after that and used stuffing his face with food as an excuse to not talk. His morning flew by with his parents finishing their own breakfasts and getting up to get ready for their days. Finn went up to dress and get ready himself as quickly as possible.

Soon, he was out the door and on his way to school. Finn pulled his pick up into an empty spot and grabbed his backpack, opening the door and stepping out into the brisk morning air. He trudged his way towards the school, not really feeling up to it all of a sudden. A brief flash of dread crept up his spine as he approached the entrance and he had to fight to ignore it as he took the steps up to the front doors.

Finn's day started as any other day, with him talking to Mike and Sam, and rushing to his first class so as to not be late after he lost track of time. He made great time across the school, dodging his way around other students and teachers, and ducked into class just before the bell rang.

Things didn't get weird until P.E. when the class was faced with climbing the rope. Mercedes was right behind him in line and was issuing a constant litany of quietly uttered complaints about having to do this at all. He was trying his best to tune her out, but Tina wasn't helping by adding comments about not trusting it to hold anybody being so old and worn.

It was his turn to climb it and so he turned to Mercedes and Tina, smiled and said, "the rope is perfectly secure. It's not gonna break." He emphasized his point with a good two-handed tug on the rope that failed to do what he intended it to do.

Instead of showing them that it was safe, the thick rope broke free of what it was connected to and fell to the floor next to him. The girls shrieked and several students jumped back in shock. The P.E. teacher came running over to see what had happened. Unable to give him an answer, Finn could only stare at the man mutely. He looked down at the coiled pile of rope right next to him. His eyes settled on the end of the rope that had given way and saw that the steel harness that it was connected to was bent severely out of shape and the four huge bolts that connected it to rafters had all been completely stripped.

The entire class was staring at him in shock, nobody clearly able to say what they were thinking at first. Finn himself had no clue at all what to say about it. The teacher just stood there as well, jaw hung open in a profoundly dumb expression.

Finally, it was Tina who broke the silence by turning towards Mercedes and saying, "see, I told you."

* * *

After the rope incident that morning, Finn's day had settled into something a little more normal, at least for a little while. He was heading down the hall during his one free period, humming some nameless tune to himself. Turning a corner, he bumped into someone. Finn muttered an apology and had to do a double-take to realize that the guy was seriously rocking an eye patch. The man ignored him and went off down the hall.

Pushing the one-eyed dude in the school out of his mind, Finn continued down the hall in the hopes to get to the choir room for some practice time on a new number he was working on. Ahead of him, he saw two ladies standing next to each other looking and talking quietly like staff. He didn't recognize them, but that didn't mean anything. Both were hot. One was blonde and the other was a redhead. Blondie had a nice rack, but Reddie was wearing some Rachel-style sweater that ensured that almost all trace of cleavage was completely hidden away from even the most leering of eyes. Still, Puck told him redheads were crazy –like freaky –in the sack. Thinking that the only redhead he'd ever really known was actually kind of crazy in _**other**_ parts of her life, Finn had to assume the statement to be true.

A large duffle bag was sitting on the floor at their feet. As Finn was walking by, the redhead turned to him and said, "young man, would you be willing to take this bag to our colleague? It appears he forgot it when he went off for his demonstration. He's heading down to the library and it's a little on the heavy side."

Feeling awkward, Finn knew he would do it because he just couldn't ignore the request. First, a lady asked and second, she was also his elder. He nodded his head and said, "of course, ma'am. What does he look like?"

"He'll be the one in the eye-patch," offered the blonde.

"Thanks," he said, reaching down and picking up the bag. It clinked and clanked oddly when he jostled it around, but he dismissed the noise almost immediately. Though, he had to admit it _was _a little bit on the heavy side of things. He started rushing back the other way, hoping to catch the guy in the hallway and therefore not have to go so far to get back over to the choir room.

Rounding the corner, he saw nothing but the flash of a body disappearing around another corner further down. Damnit! The hallway the guy ducked down led right to the library. No way was he going to catch up before then. Finn started running down the hallway, very nearly losing his balance as he tried to round the corner. In the back of his mind, he thought it was a little funny seeing how even _**he**_ wasn't so clumsy as to smash into a wall running around a corner like that at any other time. Maybe he was more tired than he thought he was.

He saw a figure entering the set of doors at the far end of the hall where the library was located. Cursing under his breath, Finn charged down the hallway, practically slamming his way through the heavy wood doors. He barely noticed the doors slamming loudly against the doorstops. His mind was already occupied on other things. Right by a study table near the entrance, the one-eyed man was standing there facing him, a friendly smile on his face.

"Oh they must've sent you with the bag, thanks. If you could just set it on the table over here, I'd be eternally grateful."

Finn shrugged and said, "You're welcome. It was no problem at all."

He set it on the table and was about to leave when the man spoke up again. "I swear I'd lose my head if it wasn't permanently attached. Hey! You wanna get a peek! We're supposed to demonstrate it later, but we can take just one peek now if you'd like."

"What's in it?" asked Finn, curious in spite of himself.

"Oh just some cool props we're using to make a point about what someone can do with their life if they wanted to."

_Great, more motivational speakers, _he thought. Still, he nodded along to be polite. The man unzipped the bag and pulled both sides apart to open it. "Look inside," he said.

Shrugging, Finn looked down into the bag at something that just boggled his mind. Sitting inside were what looked like a bunch of anvils.

"Yes, those are anvils, as made famous by almost every single Warner Brothers cartoon to date. I chose them to illustrate a point, Finn."

Whoa, the dude knew his name? What the Hell was going on!

"See, each one weighs just about two hundred pounds and there are five of them. That's roughly a thousand pounds. We had to special order a bag from the company that makes Samsonite just to be able to hold them. Finn, no ordinary person could've lifted that bag at all, let alone run down the hall with it like that."

"Wh, wha?" he managed to choke out, taking an awkward step back. Putting a little bit of distance between himself and this crazy man before him, between himself and the bag, he hoped that things would seem a little less crazy in general.

"You're not like the other kids in this school. You're different, special."

"I," he paused to think of what he wanted to say next, "I don't know what's goin' on? But I, I gotta go."

With that, Finn Hudson ran from the room. He flew past both the blonde and the redhead on his way away from the library. He always knew it was a bad place to go. There were just too many books in it and now there were crazy one-eyed assholes and their impossible things, as well. No, libraries were bad and nothing was going to make him think otherwise.

In what seemed like seconds, he was safely tucked away in the choir room. This place was safe from faulty gym ropes and crazy one-eyed dudes with their fucking bags. It was a sacred space and there was no freaking way he was going to let anyone take that from him. He set his backpack down and started up on his song, content in the knowledge that no one ever bothered him here other than his fellow glee clubbers.

And true enough, he was not bothered by one-eyed psychos or hot blondes with amazing racks and their shy but sexy redheaded friends. The rest of his school day was uneventful and he drove straight home afterward.

Nobody else was home yet, so he made himself a sandwich and stuffed it down with half a bag of potato chips and half a two-liter bottle of soda. He played some Left 4 Dead after that and then took a short nap. By the time his head hit the pillow, he had all but forgotten about the weird events of the day.

* * *

Finn was woken from his nap by Kurt. He must've been out for a while if his brother had made it home.

"Hey Finn," he said, "There're some people here to see you."

"Who?" he mumbled groggily from under his pillow.

"I don't know. Football recruiters, I think."

"Wait," he said, sounding more awake as he sat up. "There are recruiters here at our house, right now! How! Why! Are you sure!"

Rolling his eyes, Kurt said, "no, I'm not. I just told you that. Now get up and make yourself look somewhat respecta –oh, who am I kidding? Just get up."

Kurt left him alone after that. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he stumbled off to the bathroom to splash some water on his face. He gave himself a few seconds to straighten out his appearance a little and headed downstairs. His mom and Burt were in the living room and as he passed by, spotted Kurt in the kitchen pretending to do anything but look like he was about to eavesdrop on the conversation.

Finn entered the living room and froze in his tracks after setting no more than a foot inside. Sitting on the couch were three people. He recognized them instantly as the weird people from the school. A sense of dread and fear clutched at his spine. No, no impossible things; he didn't want them in his life.

"Finn, honey," said his mother, "please come join us; we have some company. These people are here to talk with you about your future."

"Now, what were you sayin'?" asked Burt, steering them back to whatever conversation they were having before.

The man replied, saying, "well, we were at the school today for recruiting purposes when Finn here came by. We asked for his help with something and ended up giving him an aptitude test on the spot. He scored very highly."

"On what sort of test?"

"Well, why don't we have Finn answer that?" said the blonde.

All eyes turned on him. Before he knew it, before he could stop it, the words were flying out of his mouth. "Who are you people?"

Blushing in embarrassment, the blonde said, "sorry, I forgot that we never gave you our names. How embarrassing. My name is . . . Elizabeth, Elizabeth Summers."

By the stifled laughter of her two companions, it seemed like there was a bit of a story with her name.

"These are my associates," she continued, "Willow Rosenberg and Alexander Harris. We're with an organization known as the Watcher's Council. We'll get into more of what we do there in just a minute. I was just telling you that we had performed an aptitude test on Finn today with big results."

"What was the test?" asked his mom.

"Well," she said, picking something up from next to the couch, "I had your son carry this bag to my colleague, Mr. Harris."

Finn's eyes went wide at the sight of the duffle bag from earlier, the one he had been trying very hard not to think about. She unzipped it and started pulling out the anvils and setting them on the floor. Then she explained how they weighed up to half a ton, but he could still lift it easily. Then she started talking about why he was this way. A fantastical and sinister story was told to all of them then and throughout it, Finn Hudson felt strips and pieces of his life, of everything he loved and that loved him in return, being pulled from him one by one until it seemed there was nothing left.


	3. An Introduction

A/N1: I want give a thanks to those who have started reading this story and are no doubt wondering where the hell I'm going with it. This story does indeed have a direction it's going in and an ultimate plotline. I have carefully studied the idea of Finn as a vampire slayer (and boy was that a long story for how I got to that point) and this could make sense in some strange way, at least to me it does. Regardless, even if you can't wrap your mind around the idea (I really wouldn't blame you if you couldn't), I still hope you take it with a grain of salt and just enjoy it anyway. Thanks again for your time.

A/N2: Once again, all forms of feedback are more than welcome, even flames. Now, please enjoy the story.

* * *

He sat on the side of his bed, a warm mug of milk resting in his hands, the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg wafting up to him as he sat there lost in thought. Kurt was sitting next to him, giving Finn the required silence to process everything he'd heard. His mind was churning everything over furiously, trying everything it could to make it all make sense.

Minutes went by before Kurt got fed up and said something. "Just staring off into nothingness is not going to help you in any way. How about we talk about it instead?"

"What's there to talk about?"

"Other than the vampires and it being your destiny to slay them, nothing much at all, except that maybe eye-patch guy is a little sexy in the dangerous and mysterious way. But that's it."

Finn chuckled a little at that, unable to help himself. But his amusement didn't last long and the grin soon slipped off his face. "I don't wanna die," he said, believing that to be the most important thing for him to say.

"Who does?"

Sighing, he said, "I don't want to die. I don't want to spend my life looking for fight after fight after fight until something gets lucky and gets me. The very thought of hunting down and facing actual honest-to-God monsters leaves me feeling a little sick, dude. I mean, I know almost every video game I play and like half the movies I watch involve monsters and killing and stuff, but I know this is different, I just do. This is –I know this is real. And I'm fuckin' scared." Finn felt a tear escape the corner of his eye as he admitted that. He sighed again and stared down at his hands. "But in spite of all that, there's this part of me, this –I don't know what you'd call it –this _**thing**_ inside that since I learned about this has been screaming for me to go out there and do my job, to fucking kill _vampires_." This last part was said in an almost-mocking tone, as he exhaled his disbelief at his own words. He stared straight up at the ceiling and moaned out, "Oh God, this all so fucked up."

Kurt surprised him with a hug, which Finn almost instantly returned. The warmth of human contact was nice and it pleased Finn to know how much the other boy cared. The stain of awkward discomfort was long gone in this moment. He set his cup down and just let himself sit there being supported by his brother.

Downstairs, their parents were still talking to their guests, getting as much information as they could from them. They'd both been asked to leave and let the adults talk with the understanding to come back down so that they could talk to Finn one last time before leaving for the night. He had his head down, resting it on Kurt's shoulder. It was a little awkward, probably on both their parts, but there was just no way he was letting go right now. He just needed to collect himself together and had to give himself a few minutes to do so. Kurt felt like just such a strong presence, he couldn't help but hope that some of that strength (the real kind that he knew wasn't from muscles) would be carried over to him.

When he felt a little better, Finn pulled back and looked Kurt in the eye. "Can I ask you something?" he said cautiously, feeling oddly vulnerable just then.

"Of course."

"What would you do if you were in my position?" Finn tried not to hold his breath while he sat there, waiting for an answer.

Kurt mulled it over for a moment, before responding. "I honestly don't know, Finn. All I can tell you for certain is that the first thing I'd do upon learning that I possessed super human strength would be to beat the stuffing out of Karofsky."

Finn couldn't help it, he barked out loud in laughter. The image of his tiny, smartly-dressed little brother totally owning the puckhead in a fight was the most hilarious thing he'd thought of in a while.

"But seriously?" continued Kurt, "I think I know which decision you will make and I know that it'll be the right one."

"But how can you know?" Finn thought that was an odd thing for Kurt to say and wondered if his brother was just being nice. He wasn't really known for making the right decisions in life, so what made Kurt so certain now?

"I know," said Kurt, staring him right in the face, "because whether you believe it or not, you actually have a track record of ultimately making the right choice. Sometimes, it takes you awhile to get there, but you always do in the end. I can't say that of most people. If you want my advice though, make the right choice right away this time instead of waiting till later, you'll be better off for it."

Footsteps could be heard and felt coming up the steps.

Finn wiped away what remained of his tears and stood up. "I suppose it's time to learn more about slaying vampires."

Someone knocked gently on the door. "Can I come in?" a voice asked, male by the sound of it. But it didn't sound like Burt, so that could only mean it was Eye-Patch.

Sighing, he shrugged and said, "yeah, come on in."

Eye-Patch entered the room, giving it a brief inspection, his one remaining eye seeming to scan absolutely everything in there in just a brief look. "Posters of hot chicks in bikinis, dirty clothes scattered across the floor, video games stacked up in a huge pile next to the T.V. Yes, I have indeed found the room of the average teenage boy. I'm certain the porn is stored in that lock box inconspicuously hidden underneath your desk."

Finn tried not to blush, knowing that the man had totally called it and not wanting him to know he was right. "What do you want?" he asked instead.

Something in the man's gaze changed, sort of softened a little. "I figured that this being a lot to take in, you might have some more questions about things and I got the impression downstairs that you didn't want to just open up in front of your mom about many things. Do you try to protect your mother like that often?"

Shrugging, he looked down and said, "yeah, I guess I do. After everything that's happened in her life, I just like to keep as much crap from her as possible."

"Yeah, I saw that much downstairs. I thought maybe you'd have a lot more questions to ask without her around."

"Well, how does this whole thing work then? Do I just run out into the cemetery and start shoving wooden stakes into dead things?"

Eye-Patch laughed and said, "it's a little more complicated than that. You might have the strength and everything, but you're still not ready to go out slaying on your own. Being a slayer does mean that you have some innate fighting instincts and that you have a natural affinity with most weapons, but you need training. What that means is that a person known as a watcher is assigned to you to help you train and to act as, well, knowledge guy."

"Knowledge guy?" asked Kurt dubiously, dealing himself into the conversation.

He shrugged and said, "There are a whole bunch of weird demons and monsters out there and you never know when you're gonna need some guy with his nerd-glasses and his library of books to tell you what it is and how to kill it. So yeah, Knowledge Guy."

A thought occurred to Finn then. "So does every slayer get their own watcher?"

"It depends," said Eye-Patch, "Some slayers work alone, especially if they're stationed in a low-risk area. There are some others that work in small units or teams though. They're typically stationed in places with high levels of supernatural activity. However, even the ones who work without other slayers, typically have a support team of some sort."

"What would it be for me?"

"I don't know. That's up to you." The simple honest way that Eye-Patch said that made him feel a little more comfortable with the whole thing.

"Well, what are all my options?"

"First, you can tell us to take a hike and to never see you again and we will, you need to know that that is an option for you. Second, you could be enrolled in a special slayer training school in Cleveland. It's a fully developed live-in high school with a slaying curriculum added on. You would spend the remainder of your high school years studying there. Or you can stay here and be assigned a watcher to patrol this area alone. You would be provided with the proper training to do your duty as you attend school here as usual. A word of warning: it is difficult to balance a social life as a slayer, very difficult. But you wouldn't have to leave your friends and family behind that way."

"What's the pay rate?" asked Kurt.

Finn scoffed. "It's like a sacred destiny, dude. You don't just get paid for being the chosen one."

"Twelve hundred a month to start out with pay raises depending on various circumstances after that. That's not to mention medical, dental, and vision. Oh, and let's not forget the Slayer's Scholarship. Basically, we pay for you to go to whatever school you want to go to."

"Wait! I _**do **_get paid!"

Eye-Patch chuckled and said, "The Watcher's Council has very deep pockets."

"Not to sound like I'm in it for the money, but when do I start?"

Laughing even louder, Eye-Patch said, "how about we introduce you to your first vampire tomorrow night? Of course, nothing happens unless your mother okays it. You're still a minor after all and we have to respect that fact."

"I'll go talk to her," he said, getting up. "I think I know what to say."

* * *

Finn did indeed know what to say to his mother to let him do this. He had gone on and on about how that now that he knew about the threat, he couldn't just back away. For years, his mother had tried to get him to understand the simple fact that the right thing to do wasn't always the easiest and he built his case upon this. He laid it on a little thick, going into how if he didn't do this that it would be on him if people died while he sat around. Somehow, though, his words got through to her and she relented.

And it led him to here right this moment. He was standing in a cemetery with the blonde lady, who he learned was actually called Buffy and not Elizabeth by her friends. Buffy was a weird name and he sort of got why she didn't use it last night. Eye-Patch was with them, but preferred to be called Xander and it took Finn a while to connect it to his full first name and how it was basically the other half of the name after Alex.

It was a little chilly and he was starting to regret not taking his thicker jacket. He was standing there staring at a grave that Buffy had informed him was the burial site of a freshly-turned vampire. They were a town over right now waiting for the late Roger Van Buren to rise from his grave.

An absurdly funny thought occurred to him just then. What if it was all just bullshit and these two were simply delusional, that the super strength was real but the reasoning was simple fantasy and these people were just crazy? He tried not to laugh at the thought. His humor vanished though in an instant when something changed.

Unable to put it into words, Finn just looked over at Buffy, who he now knew to be a slayer as well. She tossed him a wooden stake. He caught it easily and kept a tight grip on it. Something was happening, something wrong; he could feel it in his bones.

The ground in front of them was pushed up, a decidedly odd sight to see. It spilled out and crumbled around the grave site off to the sides. A hand shot out into the air and he had to admit it made him jump a little. It was soon followed by another and then a head popped through and the former human literally growled. It pushed itself up and out of the grave, dirt cascading off it from every part of it's body.

"Finn Hudson, I would like to introduce you to vampires," said Buffy. "Would you like to try slaying it? Or would you rather I do it the first time?"

Uh, no, I got it . . . I think." He took a small tentative step up, thought that maybe he should say something to the vampire, thought better of it and just followed his instincts. It was shockingly simple to do it. The fledgling vampire was still disoriented from it's rebirth that it hadn't focused on anything or anyone yet.

Finn just moved forward and let his hand, the one holding the stake, do it's thing. He thrust his hand out and before he knew it, the vampire broke down into dust right in front of him, right before his very eyes. Silence filled the air and no one said or did a thing for a moment. When he felt like he could start making thoughts and speaking words, Finn opened his mouth and said, "cool."

Buffy and Xander laughed at that and started walking off. "Come on," called out the senior slayer, "we've got two more to put down tonight. The others are getting up right now and it won't be as easy with them."

He followed right after them, his blood pumping and his heart beating a mile a minute. Slaying that vampire just seemed to change things for him, like flipping a switch, and he couldn't wait to really get going with it. He got that feeling in his bones again, the one he had right before the vampire came out of the ground.

Up ahead, he saw Buffy get attacked by a vampire and was about to run up to join her when his instincts directed him to turn to the left. He did so just in time to be tackled to the ground by a flying blur.

Waving off the initial shock of pain, Finn discovered himself on his back looking up at a lithe female straddling his chest. She would've been attractive he was sure if her face hadn't been made ugly from the demon. "Oh what a sweet strapping young man you are," she purred. "You look absolutely sweet and delicious, like apple pie." She leaned down over him to whisper in his ear. "Do you wanna be my piece of pie?"

"While pie sounds awesome right now, your ugly face is ruining my appetite." He gave her a second to rear back at his words and look extremely offended, before he shoved her off of himself with all his might and watched her fly up into the air to land hard on a grave stone several yards away.

He pushed himself to his feet and was able to react in time to grab a swinging leg by the ankle, preventing a kick from hitting. Using the fighting instinct that had been guiding him, Finn swung his body around to face his new attacker while setting up for a solid haymaker. His fist connected beautifully with chin and he sent his would-be attacker stumbling off into the bushes.

The female he'd tossed away had recovered and was back, her companion staggering back out of the bushes. It was a guy almost as big as he was and a lot meaner looking on top of it. He and the female circled him warily like predators, sizing him up for a weak spot. The female looked distracted for a second and turned her head to the side in time to turn to dust.

As her remains scattered and fell to the ground, a figure stepped through them into the battle. It was Xander. He tossed a stake towards Finn, who caught it in time to spin around and thrust it into the unbeating heart of his remaining opponent. This time he pulled the stake back out before the vampire turned to dust and saved it from going with this time. He would have to remember to do that or he knew he would end up whittling a lot of wood in the future.

"Did you see that!" he shouted out in excitement. "That was freakin' awesome!"

"Don't get carried away with yourself. You were sloppy and uncoordinated. You allowed yourself to be tackled to the ground."

"Well yeah, I saw Buffy getting attacked and was about to go help her."

"Your job wasn't to go protecting Buffy. She can handle herself. Your job is to stay aware of your own surroundings. You can't help anybody if you get taken by surprise and get yourself killed. Now let's hurry and see how she's doing. Keep your guard up." Xander rushed off into the night, forcing Finn to follow after him.

They rounded a bend and found her in combat with three vampires and doing a fantastic job in keeping all three in check. Finn thought it was odd that there were so many vampires. He thought there was only supposed to be three of them. So what were all these others doing here?

His thoughts were broken at that feeling in his bones again, the one that told him when a vampire was nearby. Reacting by instinct once more, he spun around in time to block an arm with his own and to send out a punch. His new opponent deftly blocked his counterattack and sent a knee up for his groin that had him dropping an arm to block that as well. It gave his adversary all the opening it needed to deliver a powerful right hook that sent him flying back into the base of a small hill. He felt the air being driven from his lungs and looked over in time to see a figure running right for him.

_Get up, _he told himself. _You have to get up. _His body didn't want to obey for a second but the pain faded much more quickly than he thought it would and he was back on his feet in an instant. He reached out and grabbed the fist that was coming right for him and stepped right into his attacker's space, spinning himself around to throw the guy over his shoulder. The trick worked beautifully and his body almost worked too quickly for his mind to keep up and in one fluid move, he had the vampire on his back and had the stake in his chest.

Finn was getting back up as it turned to dust and found himself facing two more vampires. The closest of the two charged him head on, slamming into him bodily and sending him back to the ground again. He threw a fist into his attacker's face, backing him off and that allowed him enough room to throw the guy off.

He pulled himself back to his feet just in time to be forced to duck under a flying leg, then to block a follow-up kick with his arm. Finn grabbed the vampire by both the ankle and the upper thigh and threw it sideways into a nearby headstone. He winced at the sight of the grave marker breaking in half and falling to the ground with a thud, the vampire tumbling off of it to a roll to a stop a few feet away.

The vampire staggered back to it's feet, eyeing him warily. "You smell human, but you're not. What are you?"

Finn could feel a flush of pride go through him. This was his moment, his chance to make some sort of real debut into the world of the supernatural. He puffed out his chest and said, "I'm the Slayer."

The vampire laughed, a deep and thunderous roar of cruel amusement. The look on Finn's face froze in place for a second before fading away. A spark of disappointment flared up within him and only grew when he realized it wasn't the only vampire to do so. It's companion who hadn't joined the fight laughed, as well. Hell, he was pretty certain he actually heard one stop in mid-fight with Buffy to laugh at what he'd said. He deflated a little at the collective response. Was it really so funny to think of him as a vampire slayer?

Frustrated for some reason by the terrible response his claim had gotten, not to mention confused, Finn attacked the vampire again, this time with no small amount of anger on his side. They started exchanging a series of blows and Finn had it on the defensive. He honestly had no idea how he was doing it. It was as if his body had already been trained for years to do this without his mind having a clue about it. Whatever was going on here, he was totally down with it. If it wiped the smug grin off the bloodsucker's face, then he was all for it. _Teach you to laugh at me, _he thought viciously, as he deftly blocked a strike and countered it successfully, getting a bloody nose from the thing for his efforts.

He managed to dodge and block hit after hit, throwing out several of his own. Finn even managed some kicks that should've been far beyond his capabilities, flexibility-wise. Eventually, he had it on it's knees, it's arms looking broken and useless and it's already ugly face even uglier. Pushing his stake into it's heart, he turned his attention to the other one, the vampire that had just been watching.

The guy was standing there, his face still looking human, simply watching him, definitely not laughing anymore. He was wearing a black leather jacket that went down to just above his knees. "Is it true what you told my companion a few minutes ago? Are you somehow a Slayer?"

Finn didn't answer, feeling it more important to just kill it and be done with things. Who wanted to have a conversation with their enemy in the middle of battle? It seemed stupid to him.

"How . . . interesting," it said, before turning around and fleeing into the darkness.

He was about to follow when he heard his name being called. Turning around, he saw Xander and Buffy running over to him.

"Are you okay?" they asked in unison.

Nodding his head fervently, Finn said, "I'm doin' awesome! I slayed four vampires! Would've gotten a fifth, but he ran away just as you guys were callin' for me."

Looking mildly impressed, Buffy nodded her head in confirmation. "Good move," she said. "It's not smart to engage in a pursuit like that alone. It's all too easy to fall in someone's trap that way. Especially if your teammates are calling for you."

Xander said, "so, you good for the night, Finn? Or do you wanna do some more patrolling?"

His eyes lit up and Finn found himself nodding his head eagerly like a puppy with a new toy. "Can we! Where else would we hunt! The morgue! 'Cause that would be sweet, weird sure, but totally awesome!"

Both Xander and Buffy laughed and the slayer said, "sure, there's another cemetery across town I'd like to check out and to answer your question Finn: I sometimes have to go to the morgue for my job and you will too, but most vampires don't rise that early. Funeral homes are a little more likely and I find that there's a half-decent chance one will rise while there. But it's typically the graveyards you'll wanna patrol for fledges."

"What about the others, you know, the older ones? I don't imagine they just stay close by, do they?" They were walking back to the car while talking.

"No, not really. Hunting older vamps requires knowing where their local feeding grounds are, where it might be possible for a bunch of them to nest up without being noticed, that sort of thing. It gets a little complicated, but you'll learn it."

"And often," added Xander, "many vamps have an agenda, something they're trying to do. If you can figure out what that is, you can typically figure out where they'll be next and head 'em off at the pass."

Finn found himself nodding along at this as they were getting in the rental car. "So, like with the vamps tonight?"

Xander grinned his way through the rear-view mirror, while Buffy tossed him one of her own over her shoulder. "Caught that, did you?" she said.

Shrugging, he said, "well yeah. I know I'm not smart or anything, but I can do basic math. You said three vampires and there were like way more than that there. And that weird vamp dude that ran away, he seemed kinda shifty to me. Something was goin' on."

"Definitely," said Buffy. "When a vampire gang is initiating new members, they don't typically coddle them like that with a welcoming party. Those guys were desperate for new recruits and now I can't help but wonder why. Anyway, that'll have to be something for later. Right now, let's just focus on finishing up our patrol for the night."

And so they did.

* * *

End note: Thanks for reading. The next chapter should be up in a day or so.


	4. The Second Line

A/N1: Thanks again to those who have read my story so far. I hope you enjoy. Oh, and I caught some formatting mistakes in the earlier chapters and have since fixed them.

A/N2: Again, all forms of feedback are more than welcome, even flames.

* * *

The next day, Finn woke up to notice immediately that all the little cuts and scrapes and the bruises he'd acquired from his first patrol were all gone. In fact, he felt perfectly fine, not even a slight twinge anywhere. Considering all the times he'd been knocked to the ground, he figured he'd have to deal with some aches and pains, but there were none. Being a slayer definitely had it's fair share of advantages.

It was a Sunday and he didn't really have a whole lot to do beyond think about what he'd seen and done the night before. The whole super strength thing and the mysterious strangers showing up to tell him about his destiny and all that were all on one level and actually seeing and slaying a vampire for himself was on another level entirely. It seemed to cement it all in place for him, made it real in a way words and anvils never could have.

Now, he couldn't deny that fighting and slaying last night gave him a huge rush, something akin to getting high, he imagined. Finn had never been a fighter before though, not like that. Sure, he liked football and everything and that could be a violent sport. But, he wasn't Puck; he didn't like violence itself, especially the kind where someone could end up dead. It just wasn't his thing. And now, a part of him simply couldn't wait for the Sun to go back down. Was that all he was now? A killer?

His whole life, he enjoyed making things better, fixing things and people. Maybe he wasn't the best at it, but it was something he loved shooting for. This whole living to kill thing wasn't him, was it? No, it couldn't be. He stepped _around_ bugs instead of on them, for crying out loud! What in the world made fate think that he was the guy for the job?

He recalled something Buffy had told him last night just before they left Lima to head to the cemetery. She had pulled him aside and had told him in as soft a voice as she could that this life was dangerous, that it could easily get him killed in spite of his abilities. His family and friends could and probably would be put in danger because of this. And they thought it was still alright for him to just go out there every night and put himself and his family in danger. If it was just himself that would be one thing, but to include his family in that was not acceptable. Maybe he could go to that slayer school in Cleveland they were talking about.

Could he do that? Just leave everyone behind like that? Football would be gone from his life, as would Glee. The very thought of no longer having Glee in his life made him feel a little sick, to be perfectly honest. Man, all this slayer stuff was just messing with his head. He needed to get his mind off it for a little while.

Finn threw back the covers and climbed out of bed. Taking a quick shower, he got dressed and thundered his way downstairs to eat breakfast. For a brief second, he had the irrational thought that Buffy and Xander would be downstairs waiting for him, or maybe that Willow chick. His pulse quickened a little at the thought. It wasn't that he was afraid of them or even disliked them, but it was just too damn early in the day to be dealing with that crap.

He was relieved to just see Burt down there at the dining table reading the newspaper. Without looking up, Burt said, "there's still some coffee in the pot and what's left of breakfast warming in the oven. How was your. . .thing last night?"

Going straight for the coffee, Finn said, "it went well, I guess. I don't know, the whole thing's just really weird."

Looking up at him from his paper, Burt scrutinized him for a moment and said, "yeah, really weird seems to sum the whole thing up."

After pouring himself a cup, Finn opened the oven door and pulled out the plate of eggs and sausage. He set it all down on the table and sat down directly across from his new stepfather. "Where's mom and Kurt?" he asked to change the subject.

"They had to run to the store. They'll be back in a couple of hours. Finn, I wanted to talk to you about something."

Sighing, he stared down at his coffee and said, "let me guess, it's about this . . . slaying thing."

Burt gave him another look and said, "well yeah, it is. I have to be honest here, the whole thing scares the crap out of me, kid. I mean, I not only find out that the world I thought I knew and understood was a complete lie, but that it has brought a dangerous element into my house."

Something like nausea crept up his throat. "Yeah, danger." Man, that was a lame response, even for him. But he couldn't find anything better to say in the face of what he feared this conversation was turning into.

"Look Finn, you're a great kid and I love your mother fiercely, but the thought of that new danger coming so close to home has me scared. Kurt has so many things stacked against him in life that it feels like an impossible task to shield him from even half of it. But this new stuff can only add to that."

Okay, now he really felt ill. The greasy congealed food set before him looked more unappetizing than any food, even the worst looking food, had any right to appear. Finn couldn't help but notice that the love Burt spoke of extended only to his mom. Was this it? The moment that Burt decided Finn couldn't live there anymore? All he wanted was to put off that sort of thinking for a few hours and now he wasn't even being allowed to have that long.

Seeing the thoughts passing across Finn's face, Burt backpedaled and said, "I'm not saying you have to leave or anything, Finn. I'm just sayin' that I need you to keep an extra eye on Kurt. Ever since those people showed up, his mind seems to be focused on you and your new 'problem.' I'm afraid that he thinks it's cool and exotic, or something. I know he's a smart kid, but sometimes when he finds something new in his world, he puts all his attention and focus on it and throws himself in too deeply. He's gonna want to be a part of it all and he's not gonna realize the danger there for what it is. I'm asking you to promise me that you'll do everything you can to keep him out of it, or at least at a distance."

Oh, all he wanted was for him to protect Kurt. Be Kurt's bodyguard against the supernatural; Finn could do that. Maybe this would make Burt like him more and then maybe he could love Finn too. "Of course, I'll do my best. But I don't know how much I can keep him out of it. I mean, I know he's busy at Dalton right now and out of the way, but when Kurt sets his mind on something it can be near impossible to get him to back off. I'll try though and I won't let anything or anyone hurt him, I swear."

Burt's expression softened a little and he said, "I know you won't. And believe me when I say I know exactly what you mean about Kurt. This one time when he was about ten, we . . ."

Finn tuned him out after that, choosing to switch his focus to breakfast. But in spite of Burt's assurances that it was fine, he still didn't seem to have recovered his appetite and settled on pushing things around his plate. His mind drifted off to Kurt and then to his own 'problem.'

* * *

Kurt Hummel was sitting in his dorm room after his first day back from his weekend spent at home. His mind had been weighed down by everything he'd learned about Finn and the world at large since those people had come to talk to them. The truth had left him feeling frightened and small, smaller than he'd ever felt before. Hell, not even Karofsky threatening him had made him feel like this.

The world was a terrifying place and he'd never felt more helpless in it than he did right now. But he knew that there were forces out there to help protect it and to maybe make it a less scary place to be. Finn was apparently one of those forces now and a cynical part of him told him that fact should make him feel even less comforted. He knew the thought alone was cruel and unfair, but it still festered in his mind a little. Kurt knew that Finn was more capable than people believed, than _Finn _believed, but it was hard to let go of that stigma the other boy had garnered for himself.

In a way, it actually made a lot of sense for Finn to be chosen as some sort of hero. He had deeply ingrained protective instincts, in spite of his recent failings in that regard. And he was a truly nice person and didn't seem likely to abuse his newfound power. Kurt worried though that his low self-esteem (and boy did Finn have low self-esteem) would prevent him from reaching his true potential. But he knew the other boy would throw everything he had of himself into this and that was very comforting.

Still, it wasn't enough to know that there were people out there who could protect others from this threat. Those people couldn't be around all the time to protect him, to keep him safe from these supernatural threats. There were just so many "what-ifs" in there that it made it difficult to feel safe.

Seriously, that Elizabeth lady had said that vampires couldn't enter someone's home without an invitation. But what about the dormitory of an all-boys prep school? Was this place safe from a vampire attack? What if they could just waltz right in here and take him to get to Finn? The thought alone made him shudder in abject fear.

His mind turned to the other night after Finn had left to go vampire slaying for the first time. That Willow girl had stopped by to pay the family a visit and to comfort them, while his new brother went off to fight the forces of darkness.

_Kurt had sat there and listened to the redhead speak to his dad and stepmother, calmly explaining to them, and him as well, that Finn was in more than capable hands and that no harm would come to him. He was out there with the best of the best and that there was nothing to worry about._

_He begged to differ, but didn't voice his opinions on the matter. Carole seemed more than willing and able to do that for the both of them. So, he sat and listened to her obviously well-rehearsed diatribe on the matter, keeping his thoughts to himself. She went on to explain other things about their profession, including the revelation that she was a witch. There was a whole lot of scoffing and disbelief on the parts of his parents, but that was put to a stop when she calmly lifted her right hand and summoned a small ball of fire that floated there above her upturned palm._

_Carole got up after that and, her voice shaking something fierce, offered their guest a beverage. Willow was apparently as sharp as they came and seemed to understand his stepmother's need to be distracted by something, saying that she would love a cup of tea just then. His dad got up to follow her, his intent obviously to comfort her and not provide assistance._

_When they were out of the room, she turned to him. Her eyes appeared deep and bottomless, like there were things there that could never be explained or properly understood. They spoke of great power and fathomless wisdom, of unimaginable pain and infinite kindness. Kurt drew a breath at the sight of them so utterly focused on him._

"_Hi," she said. "I bet this is a lot to take in."_

_He did his best to remain calm, saying, "yes it is, but I can manage."_

_She nodded in understanding. "Of that, I have no doubt. You possess an inner strength, Kurt Hummel, a strength few have and that fewer still could ever fully realize. Your parents are older and set in their ways. This is difficult for them to grasp, considering how much longer they've been alive. People have a hard time letting go of the world they thought they knew, something that only gets more difficult with age. But I sense in you, something that keeps you grounded and gives you the strength to adapt."_

_This conversation was going somewhere, somewhere that had his nerves alit with fire and his breath haltering in his throat. "I've known who I was for so long now and I've known how cruel the world could be from a very young age. Before you came here and told us about vampires and demons, I lived in a frightening place. I've had more time to get used to evil than they ever have, even my father."_

_Once more, she nodded in understanding. "But it isn't just the fact that you're more world-weary than anyone your age should ever have to be, it's something more. There's something powerful and less tangible inside of you that is just waiting for a chance to get out."_

"_What do you mean?" Kurt barely noticed that he was sitting at the very edge of his seat._

"_You have potential, Kurt, magical potential." She reached into her purse and extracted what appeared to be a business card and held it out to him to take. "Here," she said, "this is my number. If you should ever decide to take your first step to something greater, please feel free to give me a call."_

_Wordlessly, Kurt reached out and took the card. Nothing more was said between them until his dad and his stepmother returned with the tea._

Kurt sat on his bed, pulling himself from his thoughts and looked down at the card he was holding in his hand. It was time to start his first step to something greater and with that, he pulled out his cellphone and dialed the number provided on the card.

* * *

School was definitely weird when he returned on Monday. Everything seemed so different and unchanged all at the same time since he'd learned about being a slayer last Friday. He tried to focus on his classes and failed spectacularly at that, no big shock. But he had football practice that afternoon and just couldn't seem to get his head into it. It didn't help matters that Coach Bieste was riding them extra hard over the upcoming championship game. Thankfully Glee wasn't to meet back up until later in the week. He was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to handle _that _on top of football practice and not to mention his meeting with Buffy and the others later that night.

They were supposed to decide his situation that night, whether or not he would stay in Lima with a watcher. The slayer school, while taking him away from everything he knew and loved, had the advantage of simplifying his life a great deal. The school work was all designed to work around him being a slayer and he wouldn't be alone in it either. But the others seemed kind of resistant to it for reasons they had yet to share with him and he couldn't imagine what that could mean.

On a completely unrelated note, he saw Rachel today and had to resist running right for her, reminding himself harshly that she had cheated on him. They weren't together anymore, which was too bad because he figured that she would be great at helping him work this whole thing out. But would that have been the right thing to do? Sure, she would've had this whole thing organized in his mind in minutes and he would already have his decision put together by this point. His conversations with Buffy and Xander had included the dangers his new life offered and that minimizing the people he exposed to it was important. Which he thought was odd considering the story they told him of how they got together. Didn't Xander and Willow start out as clueless? And he had slipped back into the topic again, great. He just couldn't seem to get his mind off of it.

Finn went straight home after practice to change into something more suited for slaying, grabbed a bite to eat, and drove straight over to the motel they were staying at. It was a rundown little dump to be sure and he parked his truck next to the rental car he knew to be theirs. The mid-January air was chilly and the Sun was already too low in the sky to be seen, the last of it's light being leeched away by the approaching evening.

He knocked on the door and waited for a moment for someone to answer the door; it was Buffy. She silently allowed him entrance, something he already knew to be a precaution against vampires. But he thought that vampires only needed an invite into someone's home. He didn't realize that extended to motel rooms, as well.

Seeming to read his mind, the other slayer said, "Wills put up a ward that makes this place act like a home. It's pretty clever, actually. But try to remember that motel rooms and other public places like these typically don't have that protection."

Finn nodded along feeling pretty certain that he wasn't going to be staying at a motel any time soon.

"We have a lot to discuss tonight. First, we need to talk about your future and we also need to talk about those vampires we fought the other night." Buffy led him to a small table with four chairs around it in the corner. A laptop and a whole bunch of papers were spread out across it's surface.

Xander and Willow were already seated and offered him their greetings. He sat down with them and waited to hear what they had to say.

It was Buffy who spoke first. "Before we go any further, we need to discuss something important. Now, you know that you're not alone, there are other slayers in the world. There are over three thousand slayers currently in the world, but that wasn't always the case."

Finn knew this much from what they had already told him.

Buffy continued. "We were fighting something very powerful, more powerful than we had ever faced and I had to make a decision, a decision that turned out to be a mistake."

Xander and Willow started to protest this, but fell silent with a calmly raised hand.

"As it was, I had no choice in the matter. We did what we had to do. There are people out there who have the potential to be the slayer, but only one can be called at a time, so for most of them, they never ended up becoming one. I had Willow cast a very powerful spell that turned every potential slayer _into _a slayer. But that came with a price, a very hefty price. Because we did that, no more potentials were being born.

"We had to do something or eventually all the current slayers would die out with no one to take their place. The world would be wide open for the forces of darkness. But there were a group of men from a very long time ago called the Shadowmen, who would go on to form the Watcher's Council. They're the ones who created the slayer originally and they had a backup plan in case something like this happened to the slayer line. We had to make a trip to Africa to activate the second slayer line, the male line."

Finn furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. What did they mean by it being the 'male' line?

"You see, Finn. For a long time it was like this: into each generation a slayer was born, one girl in all the world to blah blah blah. The point is that slayers had always been young girls, but that line has ended now. We activated the male line and now it'll be one _**boy**_ in all the world. You."

Wow! That was just a whole lot to take in. A thought suddenly occurred to him. "So that was why when I introduced myself as a slayer to those vampires they laughed at me."

Three heads nodded in response. Buffy added with, "yeah, and I actually wanted to talk to you about that. You probably shouldn't go broadcasting that fact to the world. Your biggest advantage against them other than being the slayer is that no one really knows just yet that the rule has changed. If they don't think you could possibly be a slayer they might let down their guard and give you the chance to take them down more easily."

"Gotcha, secret identity."

"But that all brings us to our next point. After we activated, well, you, we talked to the rest of the council about how this should be treated and there was a lot of resistance to the idea of a male slayer. There are many, both slayers and watchers, that just simply don't like the idea of a slayer being a guy. I guess you can chalk that up to being set in their ways, but it means that you might not have as many friends in the council or amongst your fellow slayers as you should have."

"So, you're saying that me going to that slayer school you were talkin' about might not be the best idea for me."

"Exactly. Now, all the stuff about having a watcher and getting paid and all the other basic stuff slayers have access to are yours as well as any other, but it'll probably be a hostile environment for you." Buffy didn't look pleased to say that and he couldn't blame her. The very idea of being one of the good guys and not having support from the other good guys just plainly sucked.

"Okay, so we stick to just me with a watcher."

"Yes," she said, not sounding happy about that at all. "You're a slayer, Finn, and you have all the strength and skills that comes with being one, but I'm a bit iffy about leaving you alone like that. Sure, that's the way it was for a long time, but I have to be honest with you. Slaying alone like that doesn't lead to a very long lifespan. I'd feel better if I could leave you with more backup and I'll see what I can do about that, but for now it'll just be you and your watcher."

"Who'll be my watcher then?" Finn was feeling a little nervous about that, not wanting to be stuck with some total douchebag who resented the fact that he didn't have lady parts.

"Well," said Xander, "I was thinking about volunteering to be your watcher . . . that is, if you would like me to be."

His face lit up at the thought. "Yeah," he said, "I'd be down for that."

The three Council representatives looked pleased with that. "Then it's settled then," said Willow, bringing herself into the conversation. "You now have your very own watcher. We'll go over the details of that later. For now, we really should talk about what you guys encountered the other night."

"Yeah, Wills and I did some digging and we discovered that not only has this vampire gang been recruiting extra hard in the area recently, but that there have been some minor omens. Nothing major, but a baby was born last week already pregnant somehow and there have been a rash of missing persons reports filed in this area that almost tripled from the standard numbers."

"A baby was born pregnant? How does that work?"

"It doesn't," answered Willow solemnly. "She died a minute later."

Oh.

"On top of that, I found some evidence through the county coroner's office that suggests another four people with typical vampire-related injuries have been buried today in the area. Who wants to bet that they're after more recruits?" Xander leaned back in his chair to stretch a little.

"Where were they buried?" asked Finn.

"Here in Lima and in another smaller cemetery outside city limits."

Buffy stood up and said, "so we're thinking that those vampires will be there to welcome the newcomers like the other night?"

"Exactly," replied Willow. "These guys are desperate for soldiers. They obviously don't wanna take any chances."

"And what about those missing persons reports?" asked Finn, desperately wanting to be a valuable part of this conversation. "What are the chances that they're turning people without letting them be reported as dead?"

The other three seemed to mull that over. Xander was the one to reply. "Typically, they don't like to do that for a number of reasons. If someone's reported missing, then posters go up and their faces are shown all over. That's a lot more exposure than they like to deal with. But if they're this desperate for new recruits, then I can easily see them skipping a few steps here and there."

"Regardless," said Buffy. "We know where they'll be tonight. You said four were buried in two cemeteries. Who was buried where?"

Willow said, "three of them in town and the remaining one in the other cemetery."

"So, we go to the one in town. Finn, let's go over some more last minute stuff about slaying and get ready for showtime."

He nodded and stood up. Soon they were arming themselves with stakes and some holy water. Finn found he couldn't help but get a little excited at getting the chance for some more slaying. It was definitely going to be an interesting night.


	5. The Thing About Coincidence

A/N: As always, all forms of feedback are more than welcome, even flames.

* * *

It didn't take long for things to escalate once they entered the cemetery. Once again, it was himself, Buffy, and Xander. Willow, it seemed, was content to stay back and do some more research. He and Buffy had a multitude of stakes on hand as weapons, while Xander was sporting a wicked-looking battle axe that made Finn's eyes green with envy. When could he get a weapon like that? He'd asked for one, but was shot down by both Buffy and his new watcher. They said something about getting proper training first, before they would send him out with anything bigger than a piece of wood.

Light flakes of snow were drifting down now from out of the sky, only barely starting to collect. They dusted everything in silent grace, shimmering dully from the feeble glow of a distant street light. It gave everything an eerie feel, one that had Finn tensing up in response.

Moving silently up a slight knoll, they dodged and weaved their way through tombstone after tomb stone staying close together. Buffy suddenly threw herself down behind a large grave to her right, forcing Finn to stop in his tracks in confusion. A hand grabbed him by the sleeve and yanked him down behind another grave a row behind Buffy. His watcher gave him a look and motioned unnecessarily for him to stay quiet. _Thanks, I understood that much, _he thought. The man then shifted his body to get ready to move and motioned for Finn to follow suit. With his watcher leading him, he crept up next to Buffy. She indicated with a nudge of her head toward the group of vampires before them.

The three of them snuck up on their enemy, Finn impressing himself with how stealthy he was being. It wasn't really something he was known for and he delighted in the fact that he could now be all sneaky-like with the best of them. They ended up crouched down behind a couple of large gravestones, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. A total of twelve vampires were counted.

It was Buffy who started things off by throwing one of her stakes right into the heart of the nearest vampire, scattering it into dust. This alerted the others who exploded into a hive of activity. That one vampire dude who'd escaped the other night was there and he appeared to be the leader, issuing commands to all the others quickly.

When the monsters got close enough in the search, Buffy exploded into action, Finn and Xander following right behind. Letting his instincts guide him like they did the other night, he rolled over the gravestone and managed a slick-looking roundhouse kick right to the nearest undead face, sending it staggering back a few feet. He followed this up with another high-flying kick that easily found it's mark and went to follow that up with a punch right for the solar plexus.

The vampire blocked his attack and responded with a backhanded swing that caught him right across the face. Momentarily dazed, he was unable to block it's next punch which landed right in the same spot. It stomped down painfully against the side of his knee, sending him to the ground and kneed him right in the chin.

He fell back against the gravestone roughly and managed to catch it's fist which was going straight for his nose and thrust the palm of his hand up, catching it right at the elbow. He felt and heard the crack of bones breaking and pushed himself back up. Letting go of the vampire's fist, he punched it right in the gut, doubling it over and allowing him to send a beautiful-looking left hook right across it's face.

It staggered back clumsily, a small amount of blood streamed down from it's face. It seemed confused as to whether it should cradle it's broken arm or his broken nose. He moved to take it down with another roundhouse kick when his leg was caught in a tight grip from someone else.

Another vampire had joined the fight and grabbed a hold of his leg with both hands, pulled him off balance, and sent him to the ground. It tried to stomp down on his face, but he was able to bring his arms up to block it and pushed it off. The vampire stumbled back a step and he was able to roll away and scramble quickly to his feet.

This was done in time for the first vampire to punch him in the face with it's good arm, a wild haymaker that literally had him seeing stars. That was it! This fight needed to end right now! He shook off the pain and blocked a kick from the second vampire, kicking low in return to catch it right in the knee. It was sent tumbling to the ground.

For a second or two he was able to direct his focus on the first vampire. He grabbed it by it's good arm and pulled it in close for a head butt. It hurt, sure, but not as much as it hurt the other guy. He pulled out a stake and thrust it right into the thing's heart, killing it. Pulling the stake out before it was lost, he turned his attention to the other vampire.

It was back on it's feet now and was eyeing him warily. Tired of the bullshit, Finn moved in quickly with a punch that it blocked and followed up with another that it didn't. It staggered back allowing him to send a vicious roundhouse it's way that had it staggering back a few feet. Not wanting to give it a chance to recover, he pressed his advance with a scissor kick to the chin that had it flying onto it's back.

It swept it's legs around in a complicated manner that allowed it to get into a position to get back up. The vampire leapt into the air, spinning it's body around as it extended a leg that arced gracefully in the low light of the cemetery. He managed to duck down in time for it's foot to go swinging harmlessly overhead, the breeze it generated tickling the back of his neck for a brief instant.

Finn was already in the process of delivering a powerful side kick that caught it dead center of the chest as it was landing back down from it's failed attack. The vampire flew back a few feet before it smashed back first into a large gravestone, breaking off a small chunk from the corner that went flying off to the side. It bounced off the stone surface and tumbled to the ground, rolling a couple times along the grass before it came to a stop on its back. The monster appeared dazed.

Not willing to waste his opportunity, he kicked it over onto it's stomach and knelt down to stake it through the back. Once it was dust, he took a look around and saw that the rest of the vampires were fleeing with Buffy doing her cool stake-tossing trick to tag a straggler. It turned to dust that scattered and disappeared into the falling snow.

"Well," said Xander, limping his way up to the others, battle axe held loosely in his hands, "we didn't get 'em all, but I think we took down more of them then they were adding to their army, so I call it a win."

Finn couldn't help but agree with that assessment. As far as he was concerned just then, taking down those two vampires had been all the victory he needed. Man, he felt so alive! Slaying was a big hiccup in his life when he wasn't actually slaying. But when he was in the moment, all that stuff seemed to just melt away.

The adrenaline faded and with it's absence he started to feel the effects the battle had on him. The knee that took that brutal kick was really feeling it then and his face just simply hurt. Tenderly feeling his chin, he hissed in pain and dropped his hand.

Xander looked worse than he felt, a gash oozing blood just above his right eye and more blood trickling down from the corner of his mouth. His clothing was torn up in places and he could see numerous bloodstains on his shirt and pants. And the way he was favoring his left leg suggested that some damage was done there as well.

Buffy looked completely unharmed and Finn felt a brief spark of jealousy. Of course, he knew that she'd been the slayer for several years now and had only gotten better and better at it in that time. Finn knew that it would take a lot of work on his part to get anywhere close to her level of skill.

The final tally was seven vampires dusted. It wasn't bad, but a part of Finn was itching to get out there and hunt the rest down. He knew though that it probably wasn't a good idea in his state. "Can we do this tomorrow night?" he asked.

The other two laughed, but shook their heads. "No," said Buffy, "we need to know more about these guys and what they're after. They're last two recruitment campaigns have been total busts and I get the feeling that they're not gonna try the same idea. What you said earlier, Finn, about those missing persons reports is probably accurate. None of those vampires that we saw were fresh from the grave, so they probably got away, but the damage we just did was too great for them to keep at it."

"Wait," said Finn, feeling a little confused, "how do you know that none of them didn't just pop up tonight?"

"None of them were covered in dirt and they weren't wearing funeral attire," said Xander.

He nodded. That made sense and it impressed him every time one of them popped off something like knowledgeable like that; it made him want to be like them, an expert. Maybe he could actually begin to like this profession. Still, he figured they were done for the night and didn't feel up to hanging out in the cold much longer. "So, do we just hang out in the cemetery some more, or do we go back to the motel?"

"As much as I enjoy hanging out in cemeteries after dark, Buff, the kid's got a point."

"Sure. I'm hungry anyway. Anybody care for Chinese?"

"Chinese sounds great," said Finn, enthusiastic about the prospect of food.

* * *

The space here was large and mostly empty, save for those individuals currently occupying it. They stood together in a small crowd looking out at the one among their number to stand apart from them. He was their leader and stood facing them to give his speech. By the expression on his face, they could all tell how furious he was.

"To those who stayed here or were elsewhere running their errands, I must speak to you about failure! The venture we undertook tonight was a total failure!" He stared at the faces of his minions, saw the trepidation in their eyes and in their collective stance, and smiled grimly. "Ethan!" he barked out.

From inside the mass of bodies, one jumped in place like a startled cat at the mention of his name. Nervously, he shuffled forward and pushed and weaved his way through the crowd. He was slumped in on himself and walked like he was walking to his own grave. Soon, he reached his master and stopped in place.

"You were the one to suggest this mission, were you not?"

The one called Ethan gulped and nodded his head, saying, "yes sir, I was."

His master nodded curtly in confirmation of his statement. "You were also the one who insisted we keep bringing up our ranks through this very means for the sake of discretion, were you not?"

Once more, he was forced to nod his head and say, "yes sir, I was."

Nodding in confirmation again as well, the master's expression softened a little and he said, "yes you were and you did a remarkable job of convincing me to go along with the idea."

Confused, the vampire said, "uh, thanks?"

Ignoring him, his master said, "However, you were also the one who told me that according to _**your reports **_the slayer team we encountered the other night had just been passing through and had already left the area, were you not?"

This time the minion named Ethan had to take a moment before he dared to respond. He was shaking uncontrollably in fear and it was apparent to him and his compatriots that these were his final moments of existence. "Yes sir, I w-"

The master vampire cut him off with the sudden and brutal thrust of a wooden stake through his rib cage. Taking in the brief look of shock from Ethan before he crumbled into dust, he turned his gaze to stare out at the rest of the crowd. "From now on, we will no longer recruit members by leaving their bodies behind. It is simply too high of a risk now that we have located the area that **It **is located in. From here on out, we have to be discrete and that means no more casual snacking on the populous. Everyone's on blood bags until further notice!"

As might've been expected, this new edict was met with a series of groans from members of the crowd. They were silenced quickly by a glare from the master. He continued. "Regarding our recruiting practice from here on out, we will travel to Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton for new members and that's it. I will assign teams to head out into each city later. Now, does anyone have anything to share with me? Daniel, how is your team's search for the site going?"

Immediately, as if he'd been expecting to be asked that question at any moment, the minion named Daniel responded with, "Nothing as of yet, sir, but we did just begin the grid search, so I'm not surprised."

The leader contemplated that and ultimately nodded his understanding. "You are right, of course. Anyone else have any news to share with me?"

"The equipment you wanted me to get has been ordered and will be delivered here tomorrow night. I have also posted an order for the supplies you wanted and we can get that within the week." This came from a vampire off to the side. He was shorter than the rest but had a stocky build to him; he also looked just a bit meaner with an uglier crueler mug, scarred heavily by battle.

"By equipment, do you mean all of it?"

"No sir, just the heavy machinery. The other tools will be coming a little later. Hey, don't look at me, this is the difficulty we face by going through these channels for what we need. I know it's ridiculous that we get the big stuff so easily but have troubles with the other things, but it's the nature of the beast."

"Fair enough, we don't really need it until we find the site anyway, right? Just keep me apprised on your progress."

"Yes sir," said the minion.

"Alright everybody, that's all. You're dismissed."

Instantly, everyone in the room scattered in all directions, leaving behind the stoic figure of the leader and the pile of dust that had just been the minion named Ethan.

* * *

They stood next to each other staring at the large screen before them, Xander then Willow and finally Buffy from left to right. Currently they were inside a special conference room inside the slayer school in Cleveland. On the screen, they could see the fourth member of their discussion, Council Head Rupert Giles.

"You told me over the phone that you had made contact with the boy and his family and that it went fairly well."

"All things considered," qualified Buffy.

"Yes," agreed Giles. "I presume from what you told me in another phone call that he did well being exposed to vampires in a combat situation?"

"Yes." It was Xander this time who spoke up. "We have taken the kid out twice to pop his slay cherry (he pointedly ignored the looks of disgust from everyone else) and doing well doesn't really begin to describe him."

"What do you mean?" asked the older gentleman.

"What Xander was trying to say before he lost us all with his potty mouth was that this kid has the best natural reflexes from any untrained slayer I've ever met. His combat awareness, his fighting instincts, everything is top notch. Honestly, I'd never have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself. He was phenomenal; he took four of them himself his first night out, Giles."

"Dear Lord," said the elder watcher."

"What could it mean?" asked Xander, clearly concerned as the kid's new watcher.

Shifting around in his seat, Giles said, "well, the slayer has always had deeply honed instincts, often when they're just a potential. One also possesses a familiarity with pretty much most weapons both short and long range without a drop of training."

"Yeah, but never to this degree," argued Buffy. "He displayed the most powerful spidey sense ever. This kid knew the instant a turning had completed and the fledge woke up, the _instant _it happened. No slayer I know is that good."

"It could very well be that he is the first slayer chosen for this line and that he might just have all the these innate talents that a slayer could possibly have and have them each to the greatest potential. This young man could be something of an ultimate representative of all potential slayers down the line. It sort of makes sense actually if you think about it. Really, it's all very fascinating, I would love to research this, but I'm afraid information about the first slayer was never recorded so I'd have no way of knowing if she had all of these skills to the maximum potential, as well."

"G-man, I'm as fascinated as you are," said Xander, looking and sounding anything but fascinated just then. "However, I think we need to move on. What you said makes sense, but we also need to discuss the threat here. These vamps we encountered are on a serious recruitment campaign. I haven't seen such drive in the undead since Sunny Hell."

"I laid out the cover story that we were just a slayer team passing through the area. It got us a second chance to surprise them last night, but we weren't able to attain any meaningful information about who they were working for or what they wanted. But with the missing persons reports we're getting over here, I would agree with Xander's assessment about how badly they want new members. Something is happening around here and it's happening just in time for the first male slayer to ever exist to just pop up right in the same podunk little town at the same time."

"Are you suggesting a correlation between this young man being called and the increase in vampiric activity in the area?" asked the watcher.

"Well yeah," replied Willow, "wouldn't you?"

"I would have to research more signs and omens regarding this before I would jump on the same idea. It wouldn't do to make such a rash assumption without making sure first. In regards to the elevated activity, you now have an active slayer and watcher stationed in the area, I suggest you start your investigation. If that's all. . ."

"Wait," said Willow, getting everyone's attention again. "I have one more thing to report. It's not about the new slayer, it's about his stepbrother Kurt."

"What about him?" asked the Englishman wearily.

"He has potential in magic, serious potential. Giles, I scanned his aura and he is off the charts. The power this kid could potentially have access to is beyond measure. Now, you can't tell me that that's just coincidence."

"Well, if you had led with that as an argument, I might not have been so quick to disregard it. I must admit that changes things a bit. Have you made contact with the family about that?"

"No, just the boy. I left the rest of the family out of it. I decided at the time given what I knew about the family that it was better to approach him alone. I merely told him of his potential and gave him my card."

"Very well, I'll trust your judgment on this matter. Now take care you three. Buffy and Willow, I'll see you over soon enough. Xander keep in touch."

"Will do, G-man," he said before turning off the feed. "Ladies, I know you have some travel arrangements to make, so I'll leave you to that. As for me, I've gotta lot to do now that I'm gonna settle here for a little while."

"When are you going to start his training," asked Buffy.

"Tonight if I can help it," he replied.

* * *

Night came again and Finn found himself standing in an open field under the bright glare of the moon. It was actually kind of nice out in spite of the bitter cold. His watcher had driven him out here for his first training session. They were both wearing heavy coats and gloves and beanies, neither wanting to put up with the chill. Currently, they were standing maybe five feet apart, facing one another.

"Hit me," said his watcher.

"What?" asked Finn, dumbstruck. "If I hit you, won't I seriously hurt you?"

Smirking at him, his watcher said, "only if you can land a punch. Now, hit me."

"Are you sure?"

Rolling his eye, Xander said, "of course I'm sure, now stop being a baby and hit me already."

Shrugging his shoulders, Finn figured he might as well. He curled his right hand into a tightly grasped fist and let loose, aiming right for the man's chin. Before he knew what was going on his wrist was being held in a vice-like grip and he was being spun around and tossed through the air to land painfully on his back, the wind being knocked from his lungs. His arm had been twisted around and Xander flicked his foot above him and a blade sprang out from the toe. The watcher then had his booted foot stepping on Finn's neck with the blade pressed up against his throat.

"You're dead," said the man, staring down at him stonily.

For his part, Finn could only stare up at him in shock. He knew the guy had to be some sort of badass, but damn! This guy had just totally pwned him!

Xander let go of his arm and stepped away, retracting the blade back into his boot. "I beat you," he said, sounding almost disappointed. "Now get back up."

Finn sprang back up to his feet, rolling and flexing the arm Xander had twisted around to chase away the soreness. He got back into position facing his watcher.

"Try to hit me again," taunted Xander.

Irritated now, he moved quicker, his arm lashing out to wipe that smug grin off Xander's face. Once more, he found the situation being turned around on him though, as his arm was once more grabbed. This time, his watcher spun around him quick as lightning and snapped off a heel kick right into the back of his knees, dropping him down onto them painfully. A foot was planted firmly against his backside and he was pushed forward viciously to slam down to the ground face first, having literally had his ass just kicked. It was humiliating and he could feel his cheeks burning with embarrassment as he stared at the dirt and grass.

"Yet again I beat you," drawled the older man from above him.

How?" he breathed out from his place on the ground.

"It is very simple: I was in control and you were not." Xander had his arms behind his back, looking every bit the hardass drill instructor.

Huh? He voiced his thoughts, "huh?"

"You know what the difference is between skill and instinct? You control a skill, but an instinct controls you. It takes over and gets you through a situation, one you couldn't get through on your own. And then it recedes and hands the reigns back over to you.

"When you were fighting those vampires both last night and last Saturday night, you were being guided by a powerful set of instincts. They protected you, guided you, and gave you the tools necessary to survive and to slay your enemy.

"In facing me, you had no sixth sense telling you about the danger. I am just a normal human being after all, not a vampire or a demon, just a regular Joe Schmoe. You did not perceive me to be a threat and therefore your instincts didn't lead you in the fight like they did before."

Finn got up into a sitting position and settled down on the frozen ground to listen to his watcher lecture him some more.

"Your instincts are powerful and you should listen to them often for they will save you. But you cannot do this with instinct alone. You need to develop your talents into a true skill, one that you control. Now get back up, your training can now begin."

He complied and the real lesson then began.


	6. Finn Hudson's Guide to Reconnaissance

A/N1: Here's the latest chapter, I hope you guys enjoy it. Thanks again to those reading this story. There is some violence in this chapter, but nothing too bad.

A/N2: As always, all forms of feedback are more than welcome, even flames.

* * *

Life for Finn continued on with school, Glee, and slaying and he did his best to make the most of it. It wasn't an easy fit, not by a longshot, but he made it work somehow. His watcher bought a place on the edge of town, a large fixer-upper that Xander was in the middle of fixing up. The girls left town to go back to their lives and sent a whole bunch of books, weapons, and training equipment for them to use in their stead.

It was hard having a secret identity, having to explain away unexcused absences and his lack of soclializing to his friends and teachers. He was pretty certain that Mr. Schue thought his home life had taken a nosedive and that he was being mistreated or something. The man had quietly slipped him a brochure that he'd doubtlessly gotten from Ms. Pillsbury's office, the title of which said: _So Your Stepfather Hates You. _Finn assured him that everything was fine at home and that he just had a lot on his football team also won their championship game and Quinn surprised him with a kiss. Nothing came of it, partly because she regretted it and also because Finn just simply couldn't handle more than one big secret at a time.

There was nothing new on the vampire gang front. They'd visited a couple cemeteries when Xander got word of a suspicious death, but they turned out to be nothing. The reports of people missing were on the rise, confirming their suspicions that the vampires had indeed changed recruiting tactics. Finn was just glad that he had a theory that actually seemed to be panning out. He had gone on a few patrols here and there, typically having to drive all over the county because there wasn't enough activity in Lima alone to really make much of a difference. But he was definitely getting the hang of the whole slaying thing, even learning how to investigate supernatural activity. They actually once got to put a witch who was charming people out of their retirement nest eggs out of commission; that was a nice change of pace.

Nothing much was said about his nighttime activities by his mom and Burt. The topic was an obviously sore subject with his mother and Burt seemed inclined to keep discussion of it away from her whenever possible. This suited Finn just fine, who regarded Burt as something of an amateur when it came to avoiding sensitive topics with his mom. Kurt, on the other hand, just wouldn't shut up about it. He came home every weekend from Dalton and proceeded to interrogate Finn on his slaying gig and how it was going, making sure to squeeze out every drop of information on what he'd been up to out of him. It wasn't that much of a problem, seeing as how he only had Xander as another person to talk to and it was different with him being his watcher. Besides, the man was also kind of gruff and distant with him, so it was hard to find a reason to share. Telling Kurt what was going on and having him give his support was really nice, just having someone to open up to was really nice.

Currently, he was at Xander's place after finishing up a bout of training. They were sitting on the workout bench, towels draped over their necks with bottles of water in their hands. It had been a rigorous session that included hand-to-hand combat and the sword. It was by far Finn's favorite weapon with the whip coming in second. The sword was easy to use as well as fun and it had so many great applications when it came to slaying. Unfortunately, it wasn't an easy weapon to hide, so he couldn't take it on patrols that often. The whip had few uses in battle, but it was just so much fun to use and he was starting to get pretty creative with it. With a little more practice, he figured it could become a great tool to use. Xander told him it wasn't really a favorite of slayers, but he liked to include it in his training regimen to ensure the slayers that he trained were well-versed in all manner of weapons.

Their dojo was only half-finished, leaving it only half usable. There were stacks of four-by-fours pushed off in the corner that he'd been told would be for extra structural support. Apparently being a slayer meant that he would be hell on the room. Xander had gotten a large house, one with a large den that was serving as a library and a giant basement that they had just finished using to train.

"Your skill with the sword is improving, Finn. Every slayer can use it like an expert, but very few have ever really mastered it. Now, before you go thinking you're hot shit or anything, you haven't mastered it either, not by a long shot. But you might –and I stress the word _might_ –have some potential and with some more training, you could become quite dangerous with it. Your problem is that you keep dropping your guard after you strike and while it's not long enough for someone like myself to take advantage, an opponent with quicker reflexes could easily slip past your defenses. Remember, you fight with your mind first and your-"

"-body last," finished Finn, knowing the routine. And gee, was it so hard to throw a compliment his way? He'd improved by leaps and bounds from the kid who got tossed on his ass twice with no effort at all from his watcher.

Xander laughed. "Been paying attention, have you?"

"Well, you tend to say that every time you wanna correct something in my fighting technique."

The one-eyed man stood up wearily, showing obvious signs of fatigue from the training session. "By the way, how's school?"

Thrown a little by the abrupt change of subject, Finn scrambled for a moment to come up with a reply. "I don't know, it's school I guess. Not really a whole lot to discuss."

"And your singing club?"

"Well, we just wrapped up this love song assignment. Puck sang Fat Bottom Girls to the new girl, Lauren. She's what you might call a bit hefty and it sort of offended her, which was too bad because I think he really likes her. Tina tried to sing My Funny Valentine to Mike, but totally broke down into tears in the middle of it. Oh, and Rachel sang that Katy Perry song, Firework and naturally blew it out of the water. Which reminds me, I gotta jet early, I promised Kurt I'd come and support him at his what did he call it? Oh yeah, his Lonely Hearts Club Dinner. Anyway, it seemed like a big deal to him, so I told I'd come if I didn't have to patrol. I don't have to go patrolling, do I?"

Sighing, Xander said, "no, you can go to your lonely hearts thing. But I need you to run by the industrial district tomorrow night. I have some info that suggests that something is going to go down there and I need you to go check it out."

"Gotcha. Well, I'm gonna go home and get ready. Have a good night."

"You too," said his watcher.

And with that, Finn got up and gathered his things, leaving soon after.

* * *

The Warblers had finished up their short set a half hour ago and since then everyone had just been mingling and talking to one another. Finn and Rachel had done a sort of dance around each other all evening, making sure to not get too close to each other and at the same time ensuring that it didn't look too obvious. The other glee club was pretty good, or at least Blaine was pretty good seeing as he was the only one to actually sing a solo.

Kurt seemed to be in good spirits though and he was glad for that. It wasn't often that his new brother got the chance to really let loose and be relaxed in such a large group of people and the effect it had made him wish it could happen more often.

Eventually, things died down and people started to leave. Over half the Warblers were already gone by this point and most of the New Directions that had shown. Santana was still there chatting with an extremely blonde Warbler and Mercedes was laughing about something with Kurt and Blaine. Rachel had left with Mike and Tina a few minutes ago and he felt a little bad that her absence made him breathe just a tiny bit easier.

When Blaine left with a few of the others, Finn figured that Kurt would want to leave soon himself. It didn't take a genius to figure out his brother was totally into the guy, especially given the ridiculous looks of longing he kept casting over in the other boy's direction when he thought no one was looking. From what he understood, Blaine was gay and unattached and he wondered when Kurt would just get over his nerves and finally make a move.

Man, it was sad. Here he was, hoping his brother would get with Blaine. And for what? The chance to live vicariously (that was the word, right?) through their love life now that he didn't (and couldn't) have one of his own? He was suddenly overcome with the urge to shove a wooden stake through something.

It was soon time to leave and he stayed close to Kurt as they exited the restaurant. There'd never been any signs of vampire activity in this part of town, but one just couldn't be too certain. He kept an eye on his surroundings and had his senses on full alert, something Xander had been trying to get him to do whenever he went out. Honestly though, Finn had a hard time _**not **_being hyper-aware of everything around him anymore, especially at night.

They were halfway to Kurt's Navigator intending to go home together with it being a Friday night and there being no school to go to the next day, when his brother accidentally tripped and stumbled over a small pot hole. Finn grabbed ahold of him before he could fall, but wasn't able to stop his bag from falling off his shoulder to the ground. Books and various personal items fell out and scattered all over the concrete.

"Dammit," muttered the male diva, as he stooped down to start collecting his things.

Finn knelt down to help him and grabbed a nearby book. He almost gave it no attention whatsoever, but then he lifted up into view of one of the parking lot lights and the cover was illuminated enough for him to read the title: _The Beginner's Guide to Safe and Responsible Spell Casting by Willow Rosenberg_.

"Uh Kurt? What's this?" he asked, holding it out so that his brother could see.

Kurt expressed a deer-caught-in-the-headlights look for a brief instant before it was covered up by irritation. He snatched it back from Finn's loose grip and stuffed it angrily into his bag. "You weren't supposed to see that," he muttered, choosing to look at the ground instead of Finn.

"Why not? And more importantly, why do you have it?"

"I plan on starting a book burning," he said, his voice thick with sarcasm. "Why do you think?"

"Well, I think you're studying magic with a book from one of the people from the Council. But the question is why?" Finn feared the answer he would get as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

Sighing, Kurt said, "I, I guess the thought that you're out there alone every night facing real actual monsters just terrifies me. I thought that if I studied magic I could-"

"-you could, what? Join me? Kurt! This is serious shit! If you think I'm just gonna let you throw everything away-"

"-Okay. First off, you don't _**'let' **_me do anything. I do it because I decide to do it. And second, I don't plan on throwing everything away, Finn. Stop being so melodramatic."

"I'm not being whatever you just said, I'm being real! What I do is dangerous and if you involve yourself in it, you're gonna get hurt and no matter what you say, I'll believe it's my fault. And it _**will**_ be my fault."

"Why! Because you're the slayer! I just knew you'd start throwing that title around like it gives you the right to tell others what to do!" Kurt stood back up, having collected all his things back together.

"It's because I'm your brother, dammit! That's the only damn title I _**need **_to throw around! My life is guaranteed to be short and filled with violence and death! And I can maybe handle that, but what I can't handle is knowing that someone in my family, someone I love, will have the same sort of life. I, I just wouldn't be able to handle that, okay?"

Kurt's face softened a bit. "I don't plan on living a life like that, I really don't. But Finn, that brother thing is a two-way street. You think I can handle the idea that you're going out there and seeing the worst this world has to offer all alone? The very thought that one day in the not-too-distant future, we'll be burying you too young has me left feeling cold inside. If I can find a way to help from the sidelines, then I'm gonna do it. If it gives you even a slightly greater chance of surviving, then I'll consider it to be worth it."

"Listen, I get that I can't stop you from doing this, but I have to make one thing clear. You help from the comfort of home or someplace safe. I will not tolerate you going out at night with me, not at all. If something happened to you because of me –and don't you say it woudn't be because of me –Burt would freakin' kill me."

"I promise not to face down nightmarish monsters in the middle of the night. There, you happy?"

Finn smiled and said, "extremely. Now let's get outta here. I don't like standing around outside in the dark like this talking."

Kurt nodded his agreement and they climbed inside his car. "By the way," he said as they were buckling up, "I love you too."

Finn smiled again.

* * *

The next night found Finn creeping his way along a dark alleyway between two extremely abandoned-looking warehouses. A heavy rain was pouring down and had effectively soaked him to the bone. He was definitely not happy to be out here right now and could only wonder why these vampires could've done their business on a less stormy night.

He'd been prowling around the entire area for the past hour and had to this point found no indication that anything was going on beyond some rats scurrying about and a couple stray dogs digging around through some trash for their dinner.

Cars could be heard in the distance, sloshing their way through the rain to wherever it is they were heading. Someplace that was no doubt warm and dry and utterly devoid of vampires or other nasty things. Lucky bastards.

Then he heard something, the rumbling of a powerful diesel engine. It sounded close, much closer than any other vehicle, and it was getting closer. Lights soon appeared and he only barely managed to duck behind a dumpster in time for them to bathe the alleyway in their bright glare.

Chancing a peek around the corner, he saw a large moving truck pull up to a stop several yards ahead. The driver climbed out as well as someone from the passenger side. They moved back around to the back of the truck.

A door opened up from the building he was up next to and three more individuals came out into the rain to join the other two. He had to duck back behind his cover when one of them turned to look in his direction. Finn prayed silently that he hadn't been spotted and tried his best to pick out the sounds of someone approaching through the thundering drumbeat of the rain. He couldn't be certain though if no one was coming over or if he just couldn't hear them.

After a moment or two with no signs of anyone approaching, he dared to hope that he hadn't been discovered and peeked out again to see what was going on. People, vampires more likely, were bringing crates out from the truck and taking them inside the warehouse. He saw a total of five of these large crates be carried inside along with a sole vampire holding a much smaller box. After that, there were no more items taken out of the truck. Both the driver and his passenger reentered the large rig and it was soon backing out of the alleyway and back onto the street.

One of the remaining vampires said, "you stay out here and guard the entrance. I'll have someone come out to replace you in a few hours."

The other vampire merely nodded and took up a position next to the door with his back to the wall. The others went back inside, leaving it alone to guard the exterior. It already looked extremely bored.

Finn reached inside his jacket and pulled out a wooden stake. He was trying to figure out how best to sneak up on it when an idea came to him. Kneeling down, his eyes searched out something on the ground that he could use. Finding a piece of broken beer bottle, he picked it up carefully so as not to cut himself and tossed it clear down the alleyway to the far end.

It's head snapped around to stare down the narrow passage in the opposite direction from where he was. Finn, not wanting to waste his opportunity, came out from around the dumpster and snuck up on it from behind. He went cautiously but also quickly, figuring that he didn't have long before it decided the noise was nothing and turned around.

He reached the monster and quickly enveloped it in his arms. Finn whispered, "and people think _I'm _stupid," as he was slipping the stake underneath it's ribcage up into it's heart. It tensed in his arms for a second before breaking down into dust and ash.

Walking over to the door, he gave it a quick test and found it to be locked. Finn figured he could probably break the lock very easily, but worried that it would make too much noise. He looked around, seeing nothing and then looked up. Above him to the right, he spotted something that had him wondering if it could work. There was an open window up above on what appeared to be the second floor. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be a way to climb up to it.

Finn gave himself a minute to think things through. An idea occurred to him, one that had him wondering if it was even possible. Sure, he was strong and everything now, but could he do it? Shrugging his shoulders, he slipped his stake back into his jacket and crouched down.

He tensed his body up, feeling his muscles tighten up into a tense coil, and jumped up as high as he could go. Finn felt a brief giddy sensation of weightlessness after he was airborne and reaching the peak of his jump. His hands reached the bottom edge of the window sill and gripped onto it tightly, leaving him dangling off the edge of the building above the alleyway.

With his considerable strength, he was able to hang there easily. He pulled himself up until his head was even with the window and took a peek inside. There was only an empty room visible and he breathed out a sigh of relief. He pulled himself up and slipped quietly inside the building.

Finn just stood there a moment, dripping water on the floor. He surveyed the room around him and it appeared to be an old office. There wasn't much in here beyond a couple of old pieces of furniture. There was a filing cabinet off to one side that looked like it had seen better days. A desk was pushed up against a corner, a thick blanket of dust coating it. In fact, dust seemed to coat the entire place. Except that he noticed that that wasn't entirely true.

He knelt down to the linoleum floor and inspected what appeared to be a path through the dust. The rest of the floor had been undisturbed, save for a narrow strip that extended from a closed door directly in front of him. The strip curved to the right and led to another door. Even without a superior intellect, he was able to reason that there had been a lot of foot traffic coming through here. There was no apparent interest in this room itself, beyond being the pathway between whatever lay on the other side of those two doors.

Standing back up, he thought about what his next step should be. The part of the warehouse that the vampires had entered was to his left and he figured it made more sense for the door in front of him to lead that way, being much closer. Not feeling up to facing the undead just yet, Finn turned his attention to the door on the right.

Cautiously, he approached it, being extra careful not to make any unnecessary sounds. He reached out and tested the door; it was unlocked. Opening the door, he peered into the darkened room on the other side. It was considerably darker in here and he wondered why. With a careful step, he entered the room, breath held trapped in his lungs.

It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dark and he found the reason for why less light was coming in from the distant street lamps than the last room. The windows in here had been completely blacked out.

There was nothing much in here, except for a series of three large commercial refrigerators along the left-hand wall. He could hear the hum of their motors even through the staccato beat of the rain on the metal roof of the building.

Finn approached the closest of these and opened one of the doors. He had to bite back a gasp at the sight of hundreds upon hundreds of clear plastic bags. Every single one was filled with what he knew to be blood. There were labels on each of them that basically told him that they had doubtlessly been pilfered from a blood bank or a hospital.

Closing the door, he took another look around the room. His eyes landed on yet another door on the far end of the space. He walked over to it and tested the handle. It was unlocked just like the last one. Finn opened it and stepped inside.

This room was completely empty of furniture, but he could still make out several _things _laid out on the floor in a neat and tidy row. There were eight in total and each one had a white cloth draped over it.

As he crept closer to them, Finn started getting an uneasy feeling. Just looking at them from this distance, he could see that they were most definitely shaped like bodies. He reached the closest one and pulled out a stake, kneeling down right next to it.

With a slightly trembling hand, he reached out and grabbed ahold of the cloth draped over it. He pulled it off and revealed the body of a man. The guy looked to have been in his late twenties when he died. It was difficult to see any puncture wounds in this low light, but he was certain the guy had been turned and was in the process of becoming one of the undead. His bones itched slightly, but not so badly that he thought it was about to wake up and attack him. These guys were still in the middle of the change.

Shaking his head in remorse at the wasted life, he steeled his nerves and drove the stake into his heart. The man's eyes shot open for a second, expressing a deep look of shock, and then he crumbled into dust. Getting up, he turned his focus to the next body and repeated the process.

After putting every single one of them down permanently, Finn quietly left the room. He backtracked all the way back to the first room and went for the other door. It opened onto a walkway that traced it's way along a wall on the right side. To the left was an open space that overlooked a large room.

From his vantage point, he could see several vampires bustling about. They seemed to be carrying various things around and performing a multitude of different tasks. His eyes landed on the crates that had just been brought in. A few of them were already open and a number of vampires were pulling out items from within. He saw that they were taking what appeared to be shovels and pickaxes out of the containers.

Another one of the crates was opened and a vampire pulled out what he recognized to be a jackhammer. What the hell were they up to? He dared to step out further onto the walkway to get a better look at the room. On top of the tools they had just received, he spotted a bulldozer and a backhoe sitting side by side on the far end of the space.

A door opened up from below and another vampire joined the rest. This one was instantly recognized as the leader from both cemeteries. He was still wearing that long black leather coat and crossed the large space with a confident swagger.

"Where is it?" he asked, his voice carrying out across the room easily. One of the vamps pointed out a small box sitting on a pallet full of wood crossbeams.

"We figured we'd wait to open it till you got here, sir," said the minion who had pointed it out.

Leader Guy said nothing in response to this and went straight for the box. He opened it and pulled out something from within. It was too small to make out what it was from here, but Finn figured it to be extremely important to the guy.

He was interrupted from his surveillance when he heard a low growl from behind and to his left. Finn had just enough time to throw an arm up to block a strike as he pivoted his body in that direction. His arm deflected the hand that was reaching for his neck, but he wasn't quick enough to block the foot that was planted in his gut.

The vampire kicked out and pushed him backward against the railing. He broke through it and went sailing through the air and then down. Finn smashed painfully into another pallet of crossbeams and tumbled off of it onto the concrete floor. His body rolled several times before he came to a stop in the middle of the room flat on his back.

He could honestly say that the pain was more intense than anything he'd ever felt before in his life, even during the roughest of football games. Apparently, it hurt like Hell to fall from that height; good to know. Finn lifted his head up to get a good look around himself and saw that he was practically surrounded by vampires. "Uh, hi guys. How're you all doin' tonight?"

The only response he got was a chorus of growls and the leader shouting out, "Kill Him!"

Everyone exploded into action all at once. Finn lifted his legs up until he was bent almost in half, rolling all his weight onto his shoulders. Planting the palms of his hands on the floor just above his head, he snapped his legs back down and leapt back up to his feet.

Shooting up his left arm just in time to block a punch, he managed to also duck down to barely avoid a roundhouse kick from another foe. Finn tucked and rolled to the side, springing back up to his feet and sending out a punch that caught the nearest vamp right in the face. It stumbled back a few feet and he was able to dodge another kick that came dangerously close to his chin. Soon though, he was overwhelmed by their numbers and took several hits all over the place at the same time. But the recovery time of a slayer was practically nonexistent and it wasn't long at all before force some distance between himself and his enemies.

He sent out a roundhouse of his own that caught one of them in the side of the head and sent it straight to the floor. His arms were suddenly held in a painfully tight grip and he reacted instantly by bringing up both his legs and kicking out violently. His feet smashed powerfully into the chest of the closest enemy in front of him and it sent the thing flying backward to bowl over several more approaching vamps.

His body flew backwards from the force as well, taking the monster that was holding him along for the ride. It ended abruptly when they smashed into a wooden post that had been supporting the walkway he'd just been on. It cracked and splintered apart from the force and he felt the arms gripping him loosen up. Sending an elbow into the vampires gut, he managed to free himself fully. Finn could both feel and hear the walkway above groan under it's own weight. Sparing a brief glance upward, he could see it sagging drastically overhead. It was probably time to move away from the spot, he decided.

Finn took a running leap and executed a perfect no-handed cartwheel through a narrow gap in the crowd. He seriously needed to hire his own cameraman to capture some of the slick-ass moves he could pull off now. Those damned Cheerios could eat their frickin' hearts out, that was for damn certain.

He exchanged a brief series of blows with a couple of vamps and when it became too crowded, proceeded to change scenery once more. Finn jumped up onto the corner of one of the crates and leapt off the other side. His body went into a spin that went nearly horizontal, as he extended his left leg out. His foot swept downward, catching a vampire in the face. It was sent back into three more behind it, knocking them all down.

Ducking underneath another kick, he countered with a high-flying scissor kick that caught one of them right underneath the chin. His eyes landed on a broken piece of wood nearby and he kicked it up into his hand in time to lodge it into a vampire's chest, turning it into dust.

Scanning his surroundings, he spotted the leader dude nearby still holding the thing he'd pulled out of the box. The box itself was within arm's reach and he grabbed it, throwing the thing full-force at the guy's face. It smashed into him and the object went flying from his grasp. Finn rolled his body over the pallet of crossbeams and just barely managed to catch ahold of it. He figured the thing had to be pretty damned important, so it made sense to get it out of the bad guy's hands.

He spun around to face the room full of vampires and saw them charging after him. His eyes searched around frantically for some way to slow them down and fell upon a small crate near his feet. Finn pushed it off with a foot and it went sliding across the floor to smash into a vampire's legs, tripping it. Several of the closest vampires were caught up in the tumble and went falling to the floor themselves.

Finn jumped back onto the pallet of crossbeams and took a running leap off the other side, putting as much speed and power into it as he could. He sailed gracefully into the air and he tucked his body into a tight ball to help increase distance as he flipped over three times before coming to a landing several yards away.

Up ahead, he saw an open doorway that appeared to lead into a narrow corridor directly ahead underneath the walkway. Seeing it as his only avenue of escape, he took no time at all in running right for it. He could both hear and practically feel the horde of them chasing after him. Passing by another support beam, an idea popped into his head.

Spinning around, he sent a powerful side kick right into the beam, splintering it severely. The walkway above buckled under it's own weight and he was forced to tuck and roll backwards into the corridor to avoid being caught under it when it came crashing down. Dust was sent up into the air as it smashed loudly to the floor. The angered howls of his trounced attackers could be heard on the other side.

Finn wasted no time in getting back up and turning around. He ran down the corridor, knowing that it wouldn't keep them at bay for long. In his escape, he passed by a number of doors on either side of him, ignoring them completely. Up ahead, he could see the hallway ended in a flight of stairs leading up.

It was suicide to stop and think about his options, so he chose to just run straight up them to the top. He then found himself in another corridor that continued onward. Racing down it, he body-checked his way through a door at the far end, sending it splintering off into pieces that flew out dramatically, and found himself in what appeared to be an old employee lounge. There was a large window on the far end of the space and he went running straight for it.

He gave himself no time to think about the incredibly stupid thing he was about to do and simply raised his arms up to protect his face as he smashed his way through the window and went sailing through the night air. Finn landed hard on the wet pavement below and rolled his body along the ground several times to absorb the worst of the landing.

Springing up to his knees, he checked to see that he was still in possession of the treasured object. Seeing that he still had it, Finn sprang back up to his feet and ran off into the night.


	7. Slayer's Song

A/N1: Sorry for the delay in getting this out. Everything decided to happen all at the same time in my life.

A/N2: As usual, all forms of feedback are more than welcome, even flames.

* * *

Finn was sitting in one of Xander's dining room chairs with the back of it against his chest. His shirt was off and his watcher was currently seated behind him, tending to a large gash in his back right along the interior of his left shoulder blade. He occasionally winced and hissed at the feeling of the needle and thread making another loop around the cut. His right hand was kept busy holding an icepack against the side of his head.

"So," said his watcher, "care to tell me again how you managed to screw up what was supposed to be a simple recon?"

"I told you that one of them caught me snooping around. And by the way, I'm pretty certain that this is the part where you show concern for my well-being."

Both hearing the sigh and feeling it ghost across his bare back, he heard his watcher say, "you're right. I'm glad you're okay, Finn. But you came damn close tonight to being just another statistic. You did good though."

Why did he sound so reluctant in praising him? Was he hiding what he really thought of Finn's performance? A seed of doubt had been planted in his mind and he knew that it would only grow in time.

"What about the thing I took?" It might be nice for a change in topic, he decided. "D'you know anything about it? What it is? What it's for?" He pointed out with a nudge of his chin toward the object in question sitting next to him on the table.

It was about a foot long and made of a sturdy-looking metal. The thing appeared old, like ancient relic old. There was a clearly defined handle on one end in the shape of a hexagon and a weird looking emblem engraved into it. The other end of the object broke out into four prongs in a square-like shape, each one jagged and oddly grooved. All four prongs were also shaped slightly differently from each other beyond that.

"I don't know. It doesn't look familiar at all. There'll be plenty of time to research it later. For right now, I'm more concerned with all the digging equipment you said you discovered. They must be after something, something important. And it's buried deep in the ground. We need to find out what it is they're after."

Finn mused on that for a moment before he said, "the only thing I know for certain about that is that they haven't found it yet."

He could practically feel his watcher thinking that over before he asked, "why do you think that?"

"Well, if they already knew where it was, wouldn't all that equipment already be at the site?"

"Hmm, good point. Now, you said you found several vampires waiting to rise and a bunch of blood bags. You also told me there were a bunch of vamps there walking around. Exactly how many were there?"

"I don't know. Maybe about thirty that I saw." Finn winced at another painful tug on his skin.

"And who knows how many more were off doing other things," said his watcher, more to himself than to Finn.

The slayer sat there quietly after that, content to just let his watcher finish up with his back without any more words spoken about vampires and their mysterious plans. He could tell that Xander was disappointed in him, but he just didn't know why. Was it simply because he'd screwed up and was discovered? Or was he disappointed that Finn hadn't slain more vampires in the fight? Because it really didn't seem fair to him to be held accountable for that. There were way too many for him to take on by himself. The thought, as true as it might've been, did little to comfort him or to stop him from feeling like he'd somehow failed.

"There," said his watcher, "all done. The stitches should be good to come out by the morning, a benefit of slayer healing. A cut this big though will probably scar, even for you."

"Thank you," he mumbled quietly.

Xander proceeded to clean up the scraps from his patch job and put his first aid kit away. He stood up and walked off to do so, coming back a moment later.

"Hey Xander?" he asked.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"D'you mind if I crash here tonight? I don't wanna chance my mom seeing these bruises and get her all worried, or more worried than she already is."

Xander thought that over for a second before replying, "sure, I guess. But won't your mom be even more worried when you don't show up?"

Finn rolled his eyes and said, "well, I plan to call her and tell her first, of course."

"Alright. When you're done calling her, you can go on up and take a shower. I'll leave out some food for you in the kitchen when you're done. I'll be in the library researching."

He nodded his head in response to that and got up himself, setting the ice pack down on the table. He went over to his backpack and pulled his cellphone out. Selecting his mom's number, he hit send and waited for her to answer. "Hi mom," he said. There was a pause as he listened to her speak. "No, I'm fine. I just wanted to call you to say that I think I'll be staying here tonight." He paused again for a moment. "No, I told you, I'm fine. I just don't wanna drive home in this rain is all." Another pause. "No, I'm not hurt, I swear." Yet another pause. "Fine, I'll call again in the morning before I leave." He paused once more. "Of course. Love you too. Bye." Finn hung up.

Putting his phone back in his bag, he picked the whole thing up and trudged his way upstairs to take a shower. Finn stripped out of the rest of his wet clothing and stepped under the hot spray of the showe-rhead. It felt blessedly wonderful on his skin, even with the sting of it on the open cut on his back and whatever other cuts and scrapes that hadn't yet healed. It was funny how the best treatment for a night spent out in the cold driving rain was more water, funny in a way that didn't seem funny at all. His thoughts were spent devoted to the spectacular screw up he'd made earlier and how to do better to get his watcher's approval.

* * *

Xander sat at his desk, an open book set before him with a whole stack more off to the side waiting their turn. Briefly, he considered sending a call into Cleveland for a backup team to be prepped. By the numbers the kid mentioned, these vampires were a far bigger threat than they had taken them for. Quickly, he determined to wait until tomorrow to see about getting help and focus on other things right now.

He had his books open and the strange object next to him and a seriously vague description of the leader; it was time to do some research. But his mind wasn't on his research, it was on how he'd fucked up. It was pretty obvious that Finn was seeking his approval; it was something the kid seemed to be always looking for from everyone.

All he had to do was tell him he was doing a good job and to sound like he meant it. Sure, he'd said the words to the kid and in his mind and heart, he'd meant them. But it was just hard to get them out and when he did manage to, it ended up sounding hollow and meaningless even to his own ears.

Why was it so difficult to open some sort of connection to this kid? It had always been one of Xander's strong points in the past, being able to see into the heart of someone he cared about and say the right thing when it was absolutely needed of him. And he did care about the kid, he was responsible for him and wanted him to succeed. So why?

_It's obvious, _a snide little corner of his mind told him, _it's because he isn't a girl. _Xander looked up at that. Was that it? Did he have a hard time closing that gap between them because Finn was of the same gender as him? He'd spent so long around females, strong and independent females with vulnerable sides that maybe he'd lost the ability to connect to his fellow males. Men in the slaying business, at least when it came to his own personal experience, were few and far between and his contact with them was complicated and storied.

Women had become easy to work with over the years, his exposure to them being so consistent that he'd almost become a bit of an expert on them (well expert might've been stretching things a bit). And other men? Giles was the only consistent male influence in his life, far more than Oz, Angel, Spike, Riley, or even his own father. And the man wasn't really known for his personal connection to Xander. His concern was largely reserved for Buffy and to a lesser extent Willow, while he had fallen to the wayside. As soon as he thought it, Xander felt bad. It wasn't Giles's fault that their relationship had been remote and only existent through their mutual relationship with Buffy. Circumstances and his own resistance to having a father figure in his life had seen to _that_ remoteness. Besides, it wasn't like they were _really_ distant from each other, he joked with the older man often and they had a great working relationship.

But Finn was different. The kid was painfully and desperately filling the void of a strong male influence in his life and was searching for someone to fill in that hole for him. Xander had seen for himself how he latched onto any male that entered his life that he could. Finn needed approval like people needed oxygen and the poor kid had gotten him of all people. Now, how screwed up was that?

Still, Xander had all the information, knew exactly what was needed of him here, but he still had serious trouble with putting the words together to help whenever the kid was around. Now, here he was, failing his own slayer when he desperately needed him. The kid was probably thinking that _he'd _been the screw up when it was Xander who had screwed up. Hell, the kid had found himself surrounded by _thirty _freakin' vampires and had made it out okay. It was a testament to his growing skills as a slayer that he wasn't dead or worse right now, and all Xander could say in response was to berate him. And the worst part was that he knew the next time they had a situation where he could break through that block of ice between them, he'd just screw it up all over again.

* * *

An old crate sailed through the air and smashed loudly into the exterior wall of the warehouse, shattering into thousands of splinters and shards. It had come close to hitting a nearby vampire, who looked a little shaken from being so close to being hit.

"HOW COULD YOU LET HIM GET AWAY!"

"But master, we didn't just-"

"DO NOT SPEAK! THERE WAS ONE OF HIM AND A FEW DOZEN OF _**YOU! **_AND STILL, HE GETS AWAY!"

"He surprised us this time. Next time, we'll-"

The minion who had been speaking was stopped by a stake through the heart. It burst into ashes that fell in a pile to the floor. Silence swept over the room after that as everyone stared in shock at what had just happened.

"Next time," he said laughing, "next time, I will drink his blood till his veins are emptied and then I will wear his flesh like clothing. He stole my key, the last fucking one I needed. I want to know who this kid is, this boy playing slayer. I want to know who he is, who his family is, where he lives, and who his friends are. I want to know what his favorite fucking food is. I. Want. To. Know. Everything. About. Him. And I want to know NOW!"

His minions scrambled to get started on their orders right away. One of them who ran too close to the master was grabbed in a painfully tight grip by the arm and stopped in his tracks. "You," he said, "have another task. Something is being shipped to my address in Cincinnati on Thursday. I need you to go get it for me. It is . . . precious to me. Here is the key to my place there. You will go there now and wait for it to arrive. Keep a low profile. That means no feeding and no killing. Your job is to sit and wait for my package to arrive. You will sign for it and you will come straight back here when it shows up. Do you understand me?"

"Y,yes sir. I will do as you order. Where is your place?

The master vampire handed him a slip of paper with an address written on it. "There, now go. Oh, and if you fail to retrieve it and bring it back, I will hunt you down to the ends of the Earth and peel the flesh off your body strip by strip."

"Understood sir."

"Good. Now get out of here."

"Right away, sir." With that, the minion fled from the warehouse to complete his task.

When he was alone, the master vampire calmly walked out of the room, saying to himself, "I wonder if Netflixx is streaming anything good right now?"

* * *

Finn was sitting in the study hall trying desperately to get his homework completed before the school day ended. It was Wednesday and glee club was in the middle of it's anthem assignment. He hadn't even picked out a song yet and time was starting to run out. The stress of balancing school, slaying, and glee all at the same time was beginning to take it's toll on him. Last night, he had ended up staying up half the night hunting something that looked like it belonged in an old monster movie from the fifties through the sewer systems.

He was exhausted and his shoulder still ached from when the ligament was torn during the fight. Beyond that, he was pretty certain that he still smelled faintly of sewer no matter how many times he scrubbed his body. His clothing had to be thrown away, being far too soiled to ever be worn again. Kurt would no doubt count that as a plus, but he'd liked that shirt.

With the training and the patrolling, he was left with too little time to do much else. On top of that, his new responsibilities hadn't gotten him much of any slack when it came to his household chores. Homework wasn't getting any easier to do and Glee was slowly proving to be the straw that broke the camel's back. It didn't help that Coach Bieste was still having the football team run drills twice a week. Eventually, he knew that something was going to have to give, that he wouldn't be able to balance it all.

And this algebra was starting to look more and more like those ancient languages in Xander's books. With a sigh, he pushed his textbook and homework away and rested his head in his hands, trying in vain to rub the exhaustion from his eyes and to will away his growing headache.

"Finn," said Rachel enthusiastically from somewhere off behind him, making him jump slightly in his seat. Great, so much for getting rid of the headache.

Looking up, he saw her looking back down at him with an expectant smile on her face. "Oh hey, Rachel. What's up?"

"Well, I know that since we broke up, we've kind of been avoiding each other with you doing most of the avoiding. But I don't feel hurt by that, I really don't. I understand that I hurt you and that it would be improper of me to try force a friendship on you, especially so soon. However, as co-captains of New Directions, we have responsibilities to the group that will force us to work closely with one another in a professional manner. So, I think it's important for us to sit down and have at least one civilized discussion about glee club."

Sighing, he conceded the point with a nod of his head and said, "you're right. We should be able to work together professionally. So, what do you wish to discuss with me?"

"Well, I was wondering what your plans were for this week's assignment? I'm thinking of Rent. How about you?"

"Honestly, I haven't been able to pick anything so far."

She shook her head and gave him a look of deep disappointment. "Finn, I thought you of all people could find an anthem to sing. I mean classic rock is filled with an abundant array of them to choose from. You have a duty to show the rest of the club a classic example of the sub-genre."

"I know I don't know as much about music as you do, Rachel, but I don't think an anthem qualifies as a sub-genre of music."

Smiling softly at him, she said, "I love it when you show that you know more than you let other people think you do. And you're right, it's not really a sub-genre, but it lacks a title to be attached to that I can think of at the moment. Of course, anthems have a religious origin that dates back to-"

"Rachel," he said, chuckling in spite of himself. "I would love to hear all about this, but I've gotta study right now. So, unless you have an idea for a song I could sing, I've really gotta get back to it."

"Of course, but Finn, I noticed that you didn't have a song for last week's love song assignment either and I understand if you weren't really feeling that one given recent history, but you need to have a song. You can't go two weeks in a row without bringing something to the table. The team needs you."

"I know," he said, looking down at the table. "I just have a lot going on right now and it's been hard to balance things, you know."

"What exactly do you need to balance?"

"It's personal stuff, family stuff." He was beginning to grow uncomfortable with this conversation.

"Of course, I understand. It's just that you've been a little distant and sullen lately and I'm getting a little worried about you."

"Well, it's not your place to be worried about me anymore, so please leave me alone." Finn almost immediately felt bad for snapping.

She gave him a piercing stare, looking more than a little affronted by that. Then, she deflated a little, saying, "you're right. I overstepped my bounds. I'll leave you to your studies, but you need to pick something to sing, you really do." Rachel walked away after that, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

Maybe he could do _Smells like Teen Spirit_. That was an anthem of sorts and he could totally rock it like Cobain did, no doubt. Of course, it wouldn't really work for a show choir's purposes, but it would at least get everyone focused again on the assignment and not this ridiculous Bieber garbage Sam sprung on everybody.

* * *

"Now, I know you're all wondering why I gathered you together," said Rachel to the rest of the glee club, minus Finn.

"Let me guess," ventured Santana, "you're finally gonna get your sex change operation and become 'Raymond.'"

"It's about Finn," she said, ignoring the other girl's barb. The collective response she got to this statement was a chorus of groans.

"What about him?" asked Mercedes.

"Has anyone else noticed that he's been acting differently?"

"No," said Artie, sounding completely uninterested.

"Rachel, I'm going to give you a piece of advice: let it go. You cheated on him and he left you. It's sort of what happens when you do that. Trust me, I know." Quinn didn't sound unkind in how she said this, more like she was stating a fact.

"It's not that, it's something else. I don't know." Rachel took a breath, giving herself a second to collect her thoughts. "He's been distant lately and not just to myself, but to everyone. He comes to school late, has missed classes, and hasn't participated in our Glee assignments lately."

"So what?" said Sam. "That doesn't mean a thing. He's never to my knowledge been very interested in his classes and considering that last week's assignment was about love songs and he's just recently been cheated on, it's not very surprising at all."

"But it's more than that," she insisted.

"Like what?" asked Tina.

"I don't know. It's just a bunch of little things, like how he always seems tired and his mind never seems to be focused on what's happening around him. And have you noticed that he's come to school with weird little cuts and bruises?"

"Maybe he restarted fight club," suggested Puck.

"That's stupid, Puck," responded the diva. "Please stop talking."

"Wait," said Artie, "fight club's been canceled?"

"Ronnie Caruthers dislocated his shoulder and cried to his parents. Figgins shut us down." Puck sounded genuinely sad about this.

"Now that you mention it," said Mike, "I think I've noticed something too. Finn's dancing skills have improved recently. Now, I thought that it was just that he'd been taking some extra lessons on the side, but now I'm not so sure."

A number of other club members nodded along with this, appearing thoughtful now that someone other than Rachel had validated the topic.

"Have you spoken to Kurt about this? He might know more."

"I've tried, Mercedes, but Kurt just dismissed my questions as me wanting to get back together with him."

"Well, isn't that true?" asked Santana. "I mean, it's pretty obvious that you're totally not over him. God knows why. He has like chick boobs."

"No, he doesn't," said Brittany, surprising everyone. "I know he totally used to, but he's like ripped now or something."

"Finnocence?" said Santana. "No way. How would you even know?"

"Because I've started having sex dreams about him again. It's the only explanation. I just figured it was because he suddenly got superpowers."

"What does this all add up to?" asked Puck, standing up. "I'll tell you: absolutely nothing. Finn's my boy and I'd know if anything was going on with him. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got algebra next and I'm feeling sleepy." With that, he left. The others began to follow his lead and left the choir room, as well.

Soon, Rachel was left alone with her thoughts. She knew she was right and that something was going on with her ex, but she didn't know what to do about it. For now, she figured the only thing she could do was watch him and see if she could spot anything new.

* * *

Finn was standing outside his house, staring in through the large picture window that revealed the living room. His mom was inside, cuddling up to Burt on the couch as they watched television. He stared at them for what seemed like hours, before something made him decide to turn around.

It was night out and there was a chill in the air. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first, but then his eyes settled on the building across from him. Instead of Old Lady Erma's place, the rickety old house that always smelled like cats even from the outside, there was another building altogether; it was the high school.

He took a step forward, feeling the crisp grass underneath his bare feet. Taking a deep breath, he continued forward, crossing the street and heading to the school. His will was not his own, as if he were being dragged toward it by some invisible force.

Reaching out, he opened the front doors and stepped inside. Finn found himself inside the choir room. There were four other people in there already. Rachel was sitting off in the corner with Quinn and they were whispering things into each other's ears and giggling like they were the best of friends, one or both of them sneaking a glance in his direction occasionally and giggling even more. Santana was standing up in the stands, her frame as still as a statue.

Puck was standing dead-center of the room, staring straight at him. Finn approached him until they were face to face. "Dude, what the fuck was that!" yelled out his (somewhat former) best friend. He looked shocked, maybe even a little scared.

All he could do was turn around, there being no words for him to speak and no other action to take. He suddenly found himself standing in the school library, positioned directly in front of the table where he'd placed the duffel bag full of anvils that changed his life. And like that incident, Xander was there. But there was no eye patch this time, the eye he'd presumably lost completely intact.

Finn opened his mouth to say something, but still the words wouldn't come out.

"Lonely is the path you walk," said his watcher. "The clouds are red and the door is yours to open."

"I don't understand," replied Finn, finally able to communicate.

The older man ignored him and continued his cryptic speech. "Little lost child and plans undone, taken for the chosen one."

Xander then pointed at something behind Finn and he turned around. He saw Kurt standing there facing him, his back to the wall. His brother stared at him impassively, almost as if there were no recognition of Finn's identity whatsoever.

Kurt opened his mouth and said, "destruction, absolute." He then took a step back and seemed to just _melt _into the wall.

A deep bottomless pit of fear opened up within him and Finn ran for the wall, beating his fists against it pointlessly. He was unable to even make a mark on it and his fear grew. His fingernails clawed at it, but accomplished nothing beyond breaking them off. Blood flowed out from his fingertips and stained the wall red. Still, he tried with manic desperation to tear through the wall that had taken his brother. But there was no strength in him, none at all.

Eventually, he stopped. Finn could feel something behind him, something dreadful. It made his spine tingle and that well of fear widened within him. He turned around and found himself in a completely different place. Before him was a wall made of earth, roots and stones sticking out of it in places.

Set in the wall of dirt was a stone door. It was big, easily large enough to fit someone a foot taller than himself. In the center of the door was a large round protrusion with a strangely familiar symbol full of weird squiggly lines on it. Finn took a tentative step toward it.

When he was right in front of it, he noticed another detail he'd missed earlier. There were three depressions set into the circular protrusion in a triangular pattern. Two of these depressions had something sticking out of them with the third one remaining empty. He instantly recognized the objects sticking out as the handle end of that weird object he'd taken from that warehouse.

He looked down and found the missing third piece in his hand. Finn reached out and stuck it in the empty depression and his fear consumed him.

* * *

With a gasp for breath, Finn Hudson shot up out of bed. Sweat dripped down his face and his clothes felt drenched in it. Adrenaline pumped savagely through his system and he couldn't seem to get his breathing under control. His nerves were shot and he realized that he was shaking.

Pushing back the covers, he swung his legs over the side and sat on the edge of his bed. It was all just a dream. But it had been so vivid, so real. He'd never had a dream like this, not once. Well, he had to admit that that wasn't entirely true. When he first became a slayer, he recalled the nightmares of past slayers meeting their ends. Those dreams had been as real as being awake and this one had been just as vivid as those. Maybe Xander would know something about it. He resolved that he would talk to his watcher about it the next day after school. With that, he went downstairs to get a glass of milk and maybe try sleeping again after that.


End file.
